Ukrainian Troops Continue To Push Russian Troops Back, Moscow Responds With Fire On Civil Infrastructure

The impact of Russia's attacks on Ukrainian territory. (Wikimedia Commons/State Emergency Service of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - Ukrainian troops continue to push back Russian troops and force them to flee captured territory, with residents enthusiastically returning to villages that had once been the front line of fighting, as Moscow shells rained down on Kharkiv.

Ukraine's general staff said its troops had recaptured more than 20 towns and villages in just the past day.

Kyiv, whose troops reached the river when they captured the central railway city of Kupiansk on Saturday, said Russia was retreating.

According to the general staff, Russian troops have left Svatove in Luhansk province, a city about 20 km (12 miles) east of Oskil. Reuters could not confirm the situation there.

Separately, a senior US military official said many of the retreating Russian troops had left Ukraine.

Britain's defense ministry said Russia may have ordered its withdrawal from all of Kharkiv's territory west of the Oskil River. That means abandoning the only rail line that has underpinned Russia's operations in the northeast.

Britain says Moscow is also struggling to bring reserves to the south, where Ukraine is seeking to isolate thousands of Russian troops on the west bank of the Dnipro River, forcing most Russian troops to focus on "emergency defensive measures."

The impact of Russian attack in the Ukrainian territory. (Wikimedia Commons/National Police of Ukraine)

A spokesman for Ukraine's southern command said its forces had retaken 500 sq km of territory in the south. The situation there could not be independently confirmed.

Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces had retaken 6.000 square kilometers (2.400 square miles) of Russian-held land since the start of the month, double the figure given the day before.

To the south, Ukrainian troops repelled Russian offensive attempts in two key areas of the Donetsk region, the towns of Bakhmut and Maiorsk, near the coal-producing town of Horlivka, the general staff said in an evening update.

"People were crying, people were happy, of course. How could they not be happy!" said retired English teacher Zoya, 76, in the now deserted village of Zolochiv, north of Kharkiv and 18 km (10 miles) from the Russian border, tearfully as she described the months she spent sheltering in the basement.

As for Nastya, 28, she had fled the village in April but returned last week after news of Ukraine's progress.

"I think everyone is in a good (mood). It's all over now. At least we hope it's over," she said, queuing for groceries with two young children.

Vitaly Ganchev, the Russian-appointed head of Moscow's occupation administration in the remaining territory of Russian-controlled territory in the Kharkiv region, acknowledged that Ukrainian troops had breached the border.

The territory that Zelensky says has been recaptured is part of Ukraine's entire landmass of about 600.000 sq km. This is roughly equivalent to the combined area of ​​the West Bank and Gaza.

Russia has controlled about a fifth of Ukraine since its forces invaded on February 24.

The impact of Russian attack in the Ukrainian territory (Wikimedia Commons/National Police of Ukraine)

Separately, President Vladimir Putin and his senior officials have remained silent in the face of the worst defeat by Russian troops since the early weeks of the war, when they were driven from the outskirts of Kyiv.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov ruled out reporters' questions about whether Putin still had faith in the military leadership.

"Special military operations are continuing. And they will continue until the originally set goals are achieved," Peskov said.

After days of dodging the topic, Russia's Defense Ministry admitted on Saturday it had abandoned its main northeastern strongholds, Izium and Balakliia, calling it a pre-planned 'regrouping'.

As thousands of Russian troops withdrew, leaving behind ammunition and equipment, Russia fired missiles at the power plant on Sunday, causing power cuts in Kharkiv and the adjacent Poltava and Sumy regions.

Ukraine denounced the attack as retaliation against civilian targets for Russia's military setback.

On Monday, Russian strikes again disrupted electricity and water supplies in Kharkiv itself, killing at least one person, its mayor said.

Throughout the day, shootings in residential areas and infrastructure sparked fires in the city, regional emergency services said on Facebook.

"As a result of the shooting, five fires broke out. The administrative building and construction site caught fire as did a number of vehicles," they said, adding that the largest fire broke out in an apartment building, with about 100 firefighters at the scene.

Moscow, which denies targeting civilians, did not comment on this.