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| Photo Credit: AP. |
KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian troops piled pressure on retreating Russian forces Tuesday, pressing deeper into occupied territory and sending more Kremlin troops fleeing ahead of the counteroffensive that has inflicted a stunning blow on Moscow’s military prestige.
As the advance
continued, Ukraine’s border guard services said the army took control of
Vovchansk — a town just 3 kilometers (2 miles) from Russia seized on the first
day of the war. Russia has acknowledged that it recently withdrew troops from
areas in the northeastern region of Kharkiv.
Russian
troops were also pulling out from Melitopol, the second largest city in
Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region, the city’s pre-occupation mayor said.
His claim could not immediately be verified.
Melitopol
has been occupied since early March. Capturing it would give Kyiv an
opportunity to disrupt Russian supply lines between the south and the eastern
Donbas region, the two major areas where Moscow-backed forces hold territory.
Melitopol
Mayor Ivan Fedorov wrote on Telegram that the Russian troops were heading
toward Moscow-annexed Crimea. He said columns of military equipment were
reported at a checkpoint in Chonhar, a village marking the boundary between the
Crimean peninsula and the Ukrainian mainland.
In the newly
freed village of Chkalovske in the Kharkiv region, Svitlana Honchar said the
Russians’ departure was sudden and swift.
“They left
like the wind,” Honchar said Tuesday after loading cans of food aid into her
car. “They were fleeing by any means they could.”
Some
Russians appeared to have been left behind in the hasty retreat. “They were
trying to catch up,” she said.
It was not
yet clear if the Ukrainian blitz, which unfolded after months of little
discernible movement, could signal a turning point in the nearly seven-month
war.
But the
country’s officials were buoyant, releasing footage showing their forces
burning Russian flags and inspecting abandoned, charred tanks. In one video,
border guards tore down a poster that read, “We are one people with Russia.”
Momentum has
switched back and forth before, and Ukraine’s American allies were careful not
to declare a premature victory since Russian President Vladimir Putin still has
troops and resources to tap.
In the face
of Russia’s largest defeat since its botched attempt to capture Kyiv early in
the war, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said troops were hitting
back with “massive strikes” in all sectors. But there were no immediate reports
of a sudden uptick in Russian attacks.
Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian forces were carrying out
“stabilization measures” across recaptured territory in the south and east, and
rounding up Russian troops, “saboteurs” and alleged collaborators.
In his
nightly address, Zelenskyy also pledged to restore normalcy in the liberated
areas.
“It is very
important that together with our troops, with our flag, ordinary, normal life
enters the de-occupied territory,” he said, citing an example of how people in
one village had already begun receiving pension payments after months of
occupation.
Reports of
chaos abounded as Russian troops pulled out — as well as claims that they were
surrendering en masse. The claims could not be confirmed.
Ukrainian
Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar said Kyiv is trying to persuade even
more Russian soldiers to give up, launching shells filled with flyers ahead of
their advance.
“Russians
use you as cannon fodder. Your life doesn’t mean anything for them. You don’t
need this war. Surrender to Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the flyers read.
In the wake
of the retreat, Ukrainian authorities moved into several areas to investigate
alleged atrocities committed by Russian troops against civilians.
Since
Saturday, the Kharkiv regional police have repeatedly reported that local law
enforcement officers have found civilian bodies bearing signs of torture across
territories formerly held by Russia. It was not possible to verify their
statements.
On Tuesday,
regional police alleged that Russian troops set up “a torture chamber” at the
local police station in Balakliya, a town of 25,000, that was occupied from
March until last week.
In a
Facebook post, the head of the police force’s investigative department, Serhii
Bolvinov, cited testimony from Balakliya residents and claimed that Russian
troops “always kept at least 40 people captive” on the premises.
Meanwhile,
military analysts sought to understand the blow sustained by Moscow.
British
intelligence said that one premier force, the 1st Guards Tank Army, had been
“severely degraded” during the invasion, along with the conventional Russian forces
designed to counter NATO.
“It will
likely take years for Russia to rebuild this capability,” the British officials
said.
The setback
might renew Russia’s interest in peace talks, said Abbas Gallyamov, an
independent Russian political analyst and former speechwriter for Putin.
But even if
Putin were to sit down at the negotiating table, Zelenskyy has made it clear
that Russia must return all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, Gallyamov
said.
“This is
unacceptable to Moscow, so talks are, strictly speaking, impossible,” he said.
Putin’s
previous actions “have restricted his room to maneuver,” so he “wouldn’t be
able to put anything meaningful on the table.”
For talks to
be possible, Putin “would need to leave and be replaced by someone who’s
relatively untarnished by the current situation,” such as his deputy chief of
staff, the Moscow mayor or the Russian prime minister, Gallyamov said.
The retreat
did not stop Russia from pounding Ukrainian positions. It shelled the city of
Lozova in the Kharkiv region, killing three people and injuring nine, said
regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov.
And
Ukrainian officials said Russia kept up shelling around Europe’s largest
nuclear facility, where fighting has raised fears of a nuclear disaster. The
Nikopol area, which is across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear
power plant, was shelled six times during the night, but no injuries were
immediately reported, said regional Gov. Valentyn Reznichenko.
Strikes have
also continued unabated on the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest and
one that has been hammered by artillery for months.
Among
Kharkiv’s battle-scarred apartment buildings, one man who returned to feed the
birds struck a defiant tone, saying that the success of the Ukrainian
counteroffensive would likely prompt harsh Russian retaliation against civilian
targets. But he said the Kremlin would not succeed in intimidating ordinary Ukrainians.
Putin “will
strike so we don’t have water, electricity, to create more chaos and intimidate
us,” said Serhii who only gave his first name. “But he will not succeed because
we will survive, and Putin will soon croak!”
The
counteroffensive has provoked rare public criticism of Putin’s war in Russia.
Some of the war’s defenders played down the idea that the success belonged to
Ukraine, blaming instead Western weapons and fighters for the losses.
Arhirova
reported from Kyiv.
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war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine