Russia’s Defense Ministry on Saturday said it was pulling back forces from two areas in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine as a counteroffensive by that country’s troops has gathered momentum.
Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said the troops would be regrouped from the Balakliya and Izium areas to the Donetsk region, The Associated Press reported.
“Izium was liberated today,” the city’s mayor, Valeriy Marchenko, told The New York Times.
Breaking News: Ukrainian forces liberated the key Russian military stronghold of Izium as they advanced in the northeast, igniting a new phase in the war. https://t.co/5HVYN2CKoW
— The New York Times (@nytimes) September 10, 2022
The defense ministry also confirmed the withdrawal of Russian troops from a third key town, Balakliya, in order to “bolster efforts” on the Donetsk front, according to the BBC.
“A three-day operation was carried out on the drawdown and organized transfer of the Izium-Balakliya group of troops to the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic,” the ministry said in a statement. “In order to prevent damage to the Russian troops, a powerful fire defeat was inflicted on the enemy.”
Earlier, the commander leading Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region, Col. General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Ukraine had full control of Balakliya and also controlled part of Kupyansk, an important strategic rail hub, according to The Washington Post.
Konashenkov said the pullout of troops was being made “in order to achieve the stated goals of the special military operation to liberate Donbas,” the AP reported.
The liberation of Izium, a key railway hub that was seized in March, is a key victory for Ukraine, topped only by the country’s stiff defense in defending its capital city of Kyiv in the spring, the Times reported.
The first signs that Russian forces would retreat rather than fight became apparent late Friday, according to the newspaper.
“Yesterday evening, Russians put a white flag nearby the railway station,” Yevhen, a Ukrainian officer who participated in the liberation of Izium and asked only to be identified by his first name, told the Times in a telephone interview. “There was street fighting all over the night.”
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a video on his social media accounts with Ukrainian soldiers standing above a building in Balakliya, CNN reported.
“The order is fulfilled. Russian occupational troops have withdrawn,” one of the soldiers says in the video, according to the cable news outlet.
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