According to Volodymyr Zelensky, Russian forces are in a state of fear as Ukraine advances further into occupied territory following the rout near Kharkiv.
Overnight, the Ukrainian president stated that speed is now essential to driving Russia back, asking partners to increase the rate of weapons supply and bragging that “we are now certain that the occupiers will have no foothold on Ukrainian soil.”
It occurred when his soldiers marched into the town of Bilohorivka, returning to the region of Luhansk less than two months after Russia seized complete control of it. Governor Serhiy Gaidai stated that the army is currently ready to reclaim the entire territory.
In the meantime, while flying to a UN session in New York, Liz Truss pledged that the United Kingdom would spend at least £2.3 billion assisting Ukraine in 2023, matching or exceeding the level of support provided this year.
Ukrainian forces have retaken their first town in the province of Luhansk, Bilohorivka, with the provincial governor stating that they are planning to retake the entire province.
Despite Zelensky’s claims that the Russian forces near Kharkiv are ‘panicking,’ Kyiv’s men continue to advance after their defeat.
Ukrainian troops ride atop an armored personnel carrier through the east Ukrainian city of Izyum, which was recently liberated.
The United Kingdom has been one of the largest suppliers of military and civilian aid to Ukraine, second only to the United States.
Any fresh support package is likely to include multiple-launch rocket systems of the type Ukraine has been employing to conduct pinpoint strikes on Russian command positions, ammo dumps, and supply depots.
Russia is currently on the defensive in Ukraine, having suffered a humiliating defeat to the east of Kharkiv last month, which restored over 8,000 square kilometers of formerly seized territory to Ukrainian authority.
Donbas leader urges referendum in Russia
The leader of a separatist area of Ukraine has called for a vote on joining Russia.
The leader of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin, stated that steps should be taken to prepare for a vote on the matter.
He made the call during a phone discussion with the leader of the neighboring Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), Leonid Pasechnik, which was captured on tape and shared online.
According to Pushilin, conducting the referendum would be “a reflection of the long-established view of our people.”
Even though the DPR and LPR are under de facto Kremlin authority, Putin now views them as sovereign nations.
The territories are not acknowledged by any significant international authority.
In addition, there is little proof that the majority of people in the territories, who are being conscripted by Russia and sent to fight as “cannon fodder,” would embrace joining the mainland.
In 2014, Putin organized a similar phony referendum in Crimea before to its annexation.
Putin’s commanders are currently attempting to reinforce and push back the Ukrainians, while Zelensky’s troops hold the new front line, probe the Ukrainian defenses, and advance as much as possible.
Overnight, Zelensky stated, “We are stabilizing the situation and maintaining our positions.” Firmly. So tightly that the occupants are visibly terrified.
We warned Russian troops in Ukraine that they have just two options: to flee or to surrender.
We are now certain that the occupiers will have no foothold on Ukrainian territory, thanks to the Security Service of Ukraine.
Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of the occupied Luhansk area, reported that soldiers had stormed into Bilohorivka, the first village to be recaptured in Luhansk.
He stated that it will serve as the launching pad for an assault on the broader territory with the objective of restoring Ukrainian control.
However, he cautioned that Russia is preparing its defenses and that “we will not simply march in,” attempting to allay fears of a Kharkiv-style fast invasion.
Monday, Ukrainian forces sunk a Russian pontoon bridge carrying weapons and troops across the Dnipro River near Kherson, which is located in the south.
A spokeswoman for Ukraine’s southern command stated, “The situation is still tight, but under our control.”
Luhansk and the adjacent province of Donetsk make up the industrialized eastern area of Donbas, which Moscow says it plans to conquer as the major objective of what it calls the “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Having expelled Russian forces from northern Kharkiv province in a lightning-fast counteroffensive this month, Ukrainian forces have begun to advance into Luhansk.
In response to the success of Ukraine’s recent offensive, the leader of a Moscow-backed administration in Donbas has called for immediate referendums on the territory joining Russia.
Denis Pushilin, the chief of the Donetsk rebel administration based in Moscow, urged his counterpart in Luhansk to coordinate preparations for a referendum on joining Russia.
On Monday, the Ukrainian general staff said that violence had been confined to the Donetsk region.
It was stated in a daily update that Ukrainian Defense Forces troops withstood enemy strikes in the areas of Mayorsk, Vesele, Kurdyumivka, and Novomykhailivka over the last 24 hours.
Today, Liz Truss will deliver her first speech at the United Nations, where she will pledge to at least match the UK’s £2.3 billion in aid to Ukraine in 2023.
In the south, where another Ukrainian counteroffensive has made slower progress, the Ukrainian military reported sinking a barge carrying Russian troops and equipment across a river near Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region.
The construction of a crossing was suspended after failing to withstand fire from Ukrainian soldiers. The barge… was added to the submarine force of the occupants,’ the military claimed in a Facebook post.
Ukraine is still reviewing what transpired in regions that were under Russian control for months before a Russian force retreat earlier this month significantly altered the war’s dynamic.
On Monday, the regional governor of Kharkiv, Oleh Synehubov, reported that Ukrainian forensic experts have unearthed 146 remains buried without coffins in a massive improvised cemetery in the woods near the retaken town of Izium. According to Zelenskiy, approximately 450 tombs were discovered at the site.
The workers spread out in groups beneath the trees and used shovels to exhume the partially decayed bodies, some of which, according to the locals, had been in the town streets for an extended period of time before being buried.
The government has not yet determined the cause of death of the majority of the victims, although officials have stated that scores were killed in the shelling of an apartment building and there are indications that others were killed by shrapnel.
Ukraine continues to exhume a mass grave in Izyum containing the dead of civilians and troops, some of whom appear to have been tortured, after Russia’s withdrawal.
Exhuming graves in a forest near the city of Izyum are Ukrainian forensic scientists and war crimes investigators wearing hazardous suits.
According to preliminary tests, four showed evidence of torture, with their hands tied behind their backs or, in one case, a rope knotted around their neck, said Serhiy Bolvinov, the chief of the Kharkiv region’s investigative police, to Reuters at the cemetery.
The majority of the bodies, according to Bolvinov, appeared to be civilians. Locals have been identifying their deceased by comparing the numbers on the frail wooden crosses that mark their graves with the names of the deceased.
Bolvinov stated, “There were traces of torture on civilians and bound hands on soldiers.” According to the Ukraine, seventeen servicemen were buried in a mass grave at the location.
Reuters was unable to confirm Ukraine’s claims of torture.
On Monday, the Kremlin denied that Russia was responsible for the atrocities that Ukraine claims to have discovered in the reclaimed territory.
“It’s a falsehood, and of course we will defend the truth in this narrative,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, equating the charges to other episodes in the conflict in which Russia alleged without evidence that Ukrainian atrocities were staged.