Easier Said Than Done, Putin!

"A total blackout in the Kharkiv, Donetsk regions, a partial one in the Zaportzhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions."

"Russian Forces terrorists remain terrorist and attack critical infrastructure."

"No military facilities, the goal is to deprive people of light and heat, #RussiaIsATerroristState."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

 

"Our forces entered Kuplansk."

"The liberation of Kuplansk and Iryum districts of Kharkiv region are ongoing."

Ukrainian Military

"People are crying, people are joyful, of course. How could they not be joyful!"

Retired English teacher Zoya, 76, village of Zolochiv

"Not to say a word about the realities of what is happening around Kharkiv, means to betray those who fought there and are still fighting."

Pro-Russia blogger Military Informant

Ukrainian soldiers hold a flag on a rooftop in Kupyansk on September 10. Kupyansk is a transportation hub in eastern Ukraine and strategically important for supplying Russian troops in the Donbas region

Well, isn't that amazing? It will be attached to the annals in support of the cautionary "Don't count your chickens until they're hatched" scenarios.  Yet says Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, "The special military operation continues. And it will continue until the goals that were originally set are achieved." Or, perhaps, until every last Russian serviceman is either dead or imprisoned?

"It seems now confirmed there is a general Russian withdrawal from Kharkiv Oblast" stated British defence analyst James Rushton from his location in Ukraine. Or did the Russian military perhaps leave all their military equipment and ammunition behind deliberately, to await their expeditious return after a brief cautionary retreat? It's unlikely the Ukrainian military will obligingly hand it all back, even if asked politely.

The reality is that Ukraine's counteroffensive is a roaring success, leaving Russian troops little option but to abandon their entire northern occupation of Kharkiv. Analysts seem to relish describing the retreat as a shock rout and even a potential turning point in Russia's war against Ukraine. In Kharkiv, Ukrainian soldiers describe seeing Russian commanders "literally running away", Russian soldiers hurriedly changing into civilian clothing.

Thus far and they're obviously on a rollback, Ukrainian forces recaptured over 20 villages and towns, some north of Kharkiv on the very border with Russia, describing a near-total collapse of the Russian front in the northeastern region of Ukraine.

 

Remnants of a destroyed tank are seen in Balakliya, Ukraine, on Saturday. Russia's Defence Ministry announced Saturday that it's pulling back troops from two areas in Ukraine's eastern Kharkiv region — Balakliya being one of them — where a Ukrainian counteroffensive has made significant advances in the past week. (Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty Images)

 

It has been seen and proven that all of Russia's forces have fled the Kharkiv region. Even pro-Russia military bloggers now admit the Russian front in the area has collapsed and according to Ukraine's defence ministry, around 1,158 square kilometres have been returned to Ukraine. Power outages were reported in several Ukrainian cities, after reports of Russian missile attacks. "Revenge strikes" they're called following the collapse of the Russian army around Kharkiv.

At least two power stations in Kremenchuk and Kharkiv struck by precision rockets. Russian attacks on "critical infrastructure" disrupted electricity and water supplies, according to the governor of the eastern Kharkiv region. Moscow's forces had "hit energy infrastructure" in retaliation for "defeat on the battlefield", was how the head of the Dnipropetrovsk region put it.

The Kremlin earlier in the war exulted over the capture of Kuplansk and Iryum, vital hubs to resupply Russian forces in Donbas. They are now no longer in Russian hands. Five soldiers feature in a video from Izyum standing on the roof of a destroyed government building, firing rounds skyward, waving the Ukrainian flag, shouting "Glory to Ukraine!"

And just incidentally, Sergei Lavrov, Russian foreign minister announced Russia would be prepared to sit down for peace talks. Really? Peace talks! Weren't they off the table? Isn't that what Moscow had declared? The Russian defence ministry in a video briefing by Lt.Gen.Igor Konashenkov considers a mere sliver of land east of the Oskil River secure in Russian control. 

Confirmation from Vitaly Ganchev, Russia-installed head of Moscow's occupation administration acknowledged that what remained in the Kharkiv region Ukrainian forces broke through to the frontier. No word from President Vladimir Putin and his senior officials, however in the face of the worst defeat since the war's early weeks, to befall Russian forces. And while the complete scale of the Russian defeat around Kharkiv is yet to fully emerge, videos and photos show great heaps of abandoned tanks and other equipment.

Ukrainian military vehicles move on the road in the freed territory in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, on Sept. 12, 2022. | Kostiantyn Liberov/AP Photo

"The Ukrainian counteoffensive in Kharkiv Oblast is routing Russian forces and collapsing Russia's northern Donbas axis."

"Russian forces are not conducting a controlled withdrawal."

Institute for the Study of War assessment