After a partial Russian withdrawal: Selenskyj reports the recapture of Isjum

In his video address, the President announced that the strategically important city was back under Ukrainian control. In the meantime, the power has gone out in large parts of eastern Ukraine.

According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian army has recaptured the strategically important city of Izyum in the east of the country from Russian troops. The army had “liberated hundreds of our towns and villages,” most recently the cities of Izyum, Balakliya and Kupyansk, Zelensky said in a video speech on Sunday evening. The authorities had previously reported a power outage in large parts of eastern Ukraine, and Kyiv blamed Russian attacks on infrastructure for the blackouts.

The eastern Ukrainian regions of Kharkiv and Donetsk are completely without electricity, said the Ukrainian Zelenskyj on Twitter. “Russian terrorists remain terrorists,” he wrote. They would not target military targets, but would leave the people of Ukraine without electricity and heating.

Attacks on critical infrastructure

The governor of the Kharkiv region said Russian attacks on “important infrastructure” had cut off electricity and water supplies. The emergency services are working to bring the fires under control at the locations hit. The governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region accused Russian troops of attacking “energy infrastructure” to avenge their “defeat on the battlefield”. His counterpart in the Sumy region reported that at least 135 towns and villages were affected by power outages.

In the meantime, there was an air alert throughout Ukraine. Some residents reported explosion noises on social networks. In Kharkiv, where Russian units had only recently withdrawn, the mayor of the regional capital of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, wrote on Telegram: “This is a hideous and cynical revenge by the Russian aggressor for the successes of our army.”

Counter-offensive progresses

The Ukrainian troops had previously pushed ahead with their counter-offensive in the north-east and in the south of the country. Governor Oleh Synyehubov said more than 40 places in Kharkiv were back under Ukrainian control. Ukrainian military chief Valeriy Saluschnyy said that since the counteroffensive began in early September, around 3,000 square kilometers of land have been recaptured.

Two-thirds of the recaptured areas were recaptured in a very short time, said Ukrainian General Staff spokesman Oleksandr Shtupun.

Russia admits territory losses

At the daily briefing, the Russian ministry showed the scope of the withdrawal on a map: According to this, the Russian army only controls a small part in the east of the region east of the Oskol river. At the briefing the day before, the map had indicated a much larger area as being under Russian control.

Russians are also said to withdraw from Cherson

According to information from Kyiv, after their defeat in the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkov, Russian troops are also withdrawing from parts of the southern region of Cherson. In some places, the occupiers have already left their positions there, the Ukrainian general staff said. In the city of Nowa Kachowka, the Russian soldiers had cleared a hospital in order to hole themselves up in it, it was said. This information cannot be independently verified.

Clear criticism from Russian ally

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, who is loyal to the Kremlin, blamed mistakes by the Russian military leadership for the withdrawal from Kharkiv: “They made mistakes and I think they will draw the necessary conclusions,” he said on Telegram, referring to the military leadership.

“If they don’t make any changes to the military special operations strategy within the next day or two, I will be forced to contact the Defense Ministry leadership and the country’s leadership to explain the real situation on the ground,” Kadyrov continued . Observers took his statements as a sign of possible tensions within the Russian ranks.