Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russian Troops leaving a counteroffensive by his country, which has made big gains in the east and south, was “a good decision.” In a video released by his office, Zelenskyy said this just hours after Moscow said it was pulling back troops from part of the Kharkiv region, where Ukrainian forces have recently taken control of a lot of land. “The best thing the Russian army can do right now is turn its back,” the president said. “Of course, they made the right choice to run.” Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Saturday that it was pulling back troops from two areas in eastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, where a Ukrainian counteroffensive has made big gains in the past week.

Ukraine’s forces are extending their lightning advance in the Kharkiv region, rapidly expelling Moscow’s troops from key cities in the biggest setback for Russia since the early days of the war

https://t.co/cqS82up9Np

— Bloomberg (@business) September 11, 2022

The news came after days of what seemed to be Ukrainian advances south of Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city. This could be the biggest victory for Ukrainian forces on the battlefield since they stopped a Russian attempt to take the capital, Kyiv, at the beginning of the nearly seven-month war. Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, said that troops would be moved from Balakliya and Izyum to the east of Donetsk. Izyum was a big base for Russian forces in the Kharkiv area. Earlier this week, videos posted to social media showed people in Balakliya cheering as Ukrainian troops moved in.

Konashenkov said that Russia’s move was made “to achieve the stated goals of the special military operation to liberate Donbas.” Donbas is one of the parts of eastern Ukraine that Russia has said is its own country. The reason Russia gave for pulling back its forces from the Kyiv area earlier this year when they failed to take the capital was that they wanted to focus on Donetsk.

Saturday morning, Ukrainian officials said their troops had made a lot of progress in the Kharkiv area by cutting off important supplies to Izyum. Oleh Nikolenko, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, also said that troops had retaken Kupiansk, a town on the main supply route to Izyum that had been the focus of heavy artillery fire and other fighting on the Russian front line for a long time. Nikolenko tweeted a picture of soldiers in front of what he said was a government building in Kupiansk, which is 73 kilometres (45 miles) north of Izyum. After a few hours, the Ukrainian Security Service posted a message saying that troops were in Kupiansk, which added to the idea that the city had been taken. The military did not confirm right away that they had entered the town, which is a hub for trains that Russia took over in February.

Videos on social media seemed to show Ukrainian troops at a roadside checkpoint on the edge of Izyum. In the pictures, you could see a big statue with the name of the city on it. Ukrainian forces did not admit that they were in control of the city.

The post Russia says it will pull its troops out of Kharkiv. appeared first on RangeInn.