The news came after days of apparent advances by Ukraine south of Kharkiv in what could become the biggest battlefield success for Ukrainian forces since they thwarted a Russian attempt to seize the capital of Kyiv at the start of the war.
Russia's Defense Ministry announced Saturday that it's pulling back troops from two areas in Ukraine's eastern Kharkiv region where a Ukrainian counteroffensive has made significant advances in the past week.
The Ukrainian Security Service of Ukraine hours later posted a message which it said showed its forces in Kupiansk, further suggesting it had been seized by Ukrainian troops. The Ukrainian military didn't immediately confirm entering the town, a railway hub that Russia seized in February. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, likewise referenced sweeping Ukrainian gains, estimating that Kyiv has seized around 2,500 square kilometers in its eastern breakthrough. The institute said it appeared that"disorganized Russian forces caught in the rapid Ukrainian advance." They cited social media images of apparent Russian prisoners seized in the advance around Izyum and surrounding towns.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told the television channel Ukraina that the Russians had no food or fuel for their troops in the area as Kyiv had cut off their supply lines. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that Ukrainian troops had reclaimed more than 30 settlements in the Kharkiv region since the start of the counteroffensive.
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