KHARKIV, Ukraine – Ukrainian forces have retaken significant territory in the country’s northeast, officials announced this week, in what could be one of their most significant successes in pushing back Russian invaders since start the war
On Thursday, nearly seven months into the war, Ukrainian officials said troops had regained control of hundreds of square miles of land in the Kharkiv and Kherson regions., which borders Russia and released more than 20 settlements in just over a week. On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said more than 30 settlements in Kharkiv had been liberated.
After announcing an attack on the Russian-held town of Balakliya earlier this week, videos circulated on social media showing Ukrainian soldiers raising the blue and yellow flag and excited civilians saluting them.
Taking control of Balakliya could offer the Ukrainians a strategic opportunity to advance further into the occupied city of Izyum, which Russian forces have been using as a staging ground for their attacks across the eastern Donbas region.
On Friday, Russian state television made a rare acknowledgment of Ukraine’s advances when Vitali Ganchev, the head of the Russian administration in the occupied areas of Kharkiv, described them as “very sharp and fast.” The images also showed what appeared to be Russian tanks heading towards Kharkiv in an attempt to reinforce the area.
Pro-Kremlin military analysts also shared a map of Ukraine’s advances in the occupied territories on Friday, showing major gains after Kyiv’s forces raised their flag again in Balakliya, a critical juncture in the Kharkiv area.
The surprise advance on Kharkiv is coming alongside a Ukrainian offensive near the southern city of Kherson, where Ukrainian forces have recently launched an aggressive push to retake the strategic port city. The greater Kherson region helps form Russian President Vladimir Putin’s coveted land bridge to Crimea, the peninsula invaded and annexed by Russia in 2014.
The recent developments are providing a boost of optimism to Ukrainians, who hope the operations will put Moscow to rest and force them out of many occupied areas before winter. Zelensky has repeatedly articulated his hope for such gains, and in a visit to Kyiv on Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged lasting support for Ukraine.
Still, Russia continues to control significant territory inside Ukraine and continues to show its ability to launch attacks across the country.
Despite some Ukrainian successes in the region, Russian forces still pounded Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, on Friday, destroying one side of the Misto Hotel and Spa with a volley of rockets. The strike also affected a nearby school and residential buildings, with a total of 14 injured, including three children.
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The city, which has suffered repeated attacks since February, is now torn between a sense of normalcy and war. Rose bushes are still carefully maintained in the median of some streets near the city center, not far from where the buildings were badly damaged.
Traffic was light but flowed freely through the city on Friday. Many storefronts were plastered or covered with sandbags, but some shops were open and electric streetcars ran on many main boulevards. Several camouflaged tanks were placed on the road leading into the city.
Residents of Kharkiv know that the offensive heading east could lead to more attacks. Yura Miroshnikov, for example, came to see what was left of the building where he worked for 20 years before it was closed at the start of the invasion.
“Don’t come any closer,” shouted a man from an open high-story window, where he had already begun the desperate task of knocking down fragments.
“It’s getting bigger and bigger,” Miroshnikov said of the fighting in the city. “My apartment is on the 14th floor, I can see it everywhere.”
Still, he’s excited by what he’s hearing about Ukraine’s progress in the region. “I think we should fight all the way to Belgorod,” he said, citing a Russian city 50 miles to the north.
At a news conference in Prague on Friday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin described the recent successes in Kherson and Kharkiv as “very, very encouraging”.
Blinken visited Kyiv on Thursday in a show of support for Ukraine as the White House announced an additional $675 million worth of military supplies to Kyiv.
Weapons in this pack include high-velocity anti-radiation missiles, remotely detonated anti-tank mines, 105mm howitzer guns, and rounds for rocket artillery systems. The United States also provides about $2 billion in security assistance to Ukraine and 18 of its neighbors.
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Blinken’s visit focused largely on Ukraine’s recent counteroffensive operations, which he described as “ongoing and proving effective.”
Ukraine’s counteroffensive also forced Russian officials to postpone holding a referendum in the Kherson region, a precursor to the annexation of occupied territory with a veneer of procedural legitimacy. Jobs officials expected to take the “vote” in September.
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But this week, the head of Russia’s ruling United Russia party said it would be “correct to hold a referendum on unification” with Russia on November 4. Crimea’s regional head, Sergei Aksyonov, suggested on Telegram that Russia should just take Ukrainian territory without a vote, as such an annexation vote “will not be recognized by the West anyway.”
“We continue to say that this is primarily a question that has to do with the will of the people living in these territories,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.
O’Grady reported from Kyiv, Ukraine, and Ilyushina from Riga, Latvia. Natalia Abbakumova contributed to the report.
War in Ukraine: what you need to know
The last: Ukraine’s grain shipments are accelerating under the deal struck by Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations in July. Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports had pushed up food prices and raised fears of more famine in the Middle East and Africa. At least 18 ships, including loads of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, have left.
The fight: The conflict on the ground continues as Russia uses its advantage in heavy artillery to pound Ukrainian forces, which have at times been able to put up strong resistance. In the south, Ukraine’s hope rests on the liberation of the Russian-occupied Kherson region and eventually Crimea, seized by Russia in 2014. Fears of a disaster at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant remain , as both sides accuse each other of bombing it.
The weapons: Western arms supplies are helping Ukraine stem Russian advances. US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) allow Ukrainian forces to strike beyond Russian lines against Russian artillery. Russia has used a number of weapons against Ukraine, some of which have drawn the attention and concern of analysts.
Pictures: Washington Post photographers have been on the ground since the beginning of the war; here are some of his most powerful works.
How you can help: Here are ways that those in the United States can help support the Ukrainian people, as well as what people around the world have given.
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