The operation started on September 6 in the Kharkiv region made it possible to postpone the Russian army to the border north of the city. Nearly 3,000 square kilometers have already been released, according to the Ukrainian staff.
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The Russian army flanks. Sunday September 11 in the evening, after six days of an impressive Ukrainian counterattack in the east of the country, a large part of the Kharkiv region, which Moscow had seized in February in favor of the effect of surprise and ‘An artillery flood ten times higher than his opponent, was taken up by Galvanized Ukrainian fighters.
The operation began on September 6 with the breakthrough of ten Ukrainian brigades concentrated around the village of Iavirske. After breaking the Russian defense lines, several units of the Ukrainian special forces rushed to the city of Koupiansk, 50 kilometers further, cutting one of the main Russian army supply routes towards the north of Donbass. Visual evidence was gathered on Sunday to confirm that three important cities (Koupiansk, Izioum and Vovtchansk) have passed under Ukrainian control. The Russian army was pushed back to the border north of Kharkiv. “Since the beginning of September, more than 3,000 square kilometers have returned under Ukrainian control,” proclaimed Valeri Zaloujny, commander -in -chief of the Ukrainian army in the evening.
According to the group of Russian military experts in exile Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), the Russian forces have lost the equivalent of three or four brigades, 40 tanks, a hundred armored vehicles of various types, nine anti -aircraft systems and Two combat aircraft (su-34 and su-25). The Russian army has abandoned in its escape very large amounts of ammunition in Izioum, ammunition which sorely lacks the Ukrainians.
What has just taken place may mark a turning point in the conflict. Ukrainian success and heavy material and human losses inflicted on the Russian army prove, for the first time, that the Ukrainian army is capable of leading a large -scale coordinated offensive. This will have the effect of shaking the confidence of the rest of the Russian troops towards the high command, or even being devastating for their morale.
“planned” maneuver
For Rouslan Leviev, the founder of CIT, this Russian reverse is, in terms of losses and speed, unprecedented since the Second World War. “Personally, I do not understand that [the Russian Minister of Defense, Sergei] Choigou or [the chief of staff, Valer] Guerassimov can keep their post at the end of this week,” said the expert.
However, Vladimir Putin has the habit of never losing chess managers under the pressure of events. for jomini of the west , pseudonym Military expert particularly well informed about this conflict, the counter-offensive is “undoubtedly the most surprisingly successful since the” Gazelle “operation of the Israeli army in 1973, during the Kippur War”.
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