Ukraine announced the recapture of some villages from Russian forces
Ukraine reportedly recaptured several villages controlled by Russian forces with counterattacks, including east of Kharkov and northwest of Mariupol.
Oleg Synegubov, the leader of the Kharkov region, said that several villages around the Malaya Rogan region had already been handed over to the Ukrainian army. These villages are about 20 kilometers from the center of Kharkov, which has been mostly surrounded by Russian troops since the first weeks of the military campaign.
Ukrainian soldiers stand on a destroyed Russian armored vehicle in Kharkov on March 26. Photo: AP.
According to the military administration of the Zaporizhzhia region, a counter-offensive to the south also helped the Ukrainian army regain the two villages of Poltavka and Malynivka, 103 km northwest of Mariupol.
The Ukrainian military also said today that after more than 30 days of fierce fighting near Kiev, some Russian units are retreating through the Chernobyl area to return to Belarus to regroup. Belarus, a close ally of Russia, serves as a base for Russian troops, missiles and aircraft during the military campaign in Ukraine.
The head of Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency, Kyrylo Budanov, assessed that Russia is shifting its forces to the south and east. Budanov added that Ukraine will soon implement guerrilla tactics in areas controlled by Russia.
Russia has not commented on the above information.
The appearance of the Ukrainian battlefield after a month of fighting. Click on the picture to see details.
Russia has launched a military campaign in Ukraine since February 24 and the fighting has shown no sign of abating so far. The Russian military’s advance is most favorable on the southern coast of Ukraine, when it controls the large city of Kherson and a number of smaller targets such as Melitopol.
On March 25, the Russian military said that the first phase of the operation in Ukraine was almost completed and would “focus on liberating” the Donbass region in the east. Leaders of the breakaway Lugansk region today raised the possibility of holding a referendum on the annexation of Russia.
The two breakaway regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, collectively known as the Donbass region, broke away from Ukrainian government control in 2014 and declared themselves independent “people’s republics”. President of Russia Vladimir Putin signed a decree recognizing the independence of these two regions on February 21.
In addition, Moscow has stepped up its attacks in western Ukraine since mid-March, after the initial phase focused only on attacking targets in the north, south and east of the country. Many Western countries have provided training to transfer modern weapons, with thousands of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, to Ukraine, mainly through the gateway in the west of the country.
Vu Hoang (According to NY Times, CNN)
at Blogtuan.info – Source: vnexpress.net – Read the original article here
