RRussia continued its attacks on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure on Monday. In Kharkiv, the supply of electricity and water failed again after Russian shelling in the morning. As early as Sunday evening, after rocket attacks on power plants and substations, large parts of the Kharkiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava and Sumy regions were without electricity and consequently also without running water.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attacks as “acts of terrorism” in a message on his Telegram channel late Sunday evening. He reiterated that such blows would not break the Ukrainians’ resistance. “Cold, hunger, darkness and thirst are not as terrible and deadly for us as your ‘friendship and brotherhood,'” Zelenskyy wrote to Russia.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported strikes against Ukrainian forces in the Kharkiv region on Sunday and Monday, but did not comment on attacks on civilian infrastructure.
However, the propagandist Vladimir Solovyov on state television described the beatings on Sunday evening as a “warning” and called for the “difficult but important men’s work” to be continued in Ukraine. In nationalist Russian telegram channels, the power outages in Ukraine were hailed as revenge for the Ukrainian offensive that has forced Russian troops to withdraw from most of the Kharkiv region in recent days.
Russia calls withdrawal ‘regrouping’
After the Ukrainian armed forces pushed back the occupying forces east of Kharkiv to the Oskil River at the end of last week, they also advanced north of the city to the border with Russia, where the Russian troops had last held a narrow strip of land.
In Moscow, Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, assured him that his military officers would keep him informed “constantly, around the clock” about the “course of the special operations”, as the war is called in Russia. This is how Peskov answered the question of how Putin reacted to the “regrouping” of troops in Ukraine.
This is how the Ministry of Defense described the withdrawal from most of the Kharkiv region. Peskov declined to comment on a call from former President Dmitry Medvedev, who now represents Putin as President of the National Security Council, for a “total surrender of the Kiev regime on Russia’s terms,” but reiterated that “all goals” of the “special operation” would be achieved.
Recaptured first places in Luhansk region
“Currently,” said Peskov, “there are no prospects for negotiations” with Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said on Monday that negotiations with Russia are currently unimaginable. Russian state television explained the withdrawal from the Kharkiv region on Monday with the use of foreign “mercenaries” on the side of Ukraine and that the Americans and British led the counter-offensive.
This, meanwhile, continues, albeit apparently at a slower pace. Ukrainian troops have also liberated the first towns in the Luhansk region, according to Serhiy Hajday, the head of the Ukrainian administration. However, he did not name them.
According to the American think tank Institute for the Study of War, video footage from the town of Bilohorivka proves that Ukrainian troops have again advanced into the Luhansk region. According to unconfirmed reports, there are also fighting on the outskirts of Lysychansk. Lyssychansk was only taken by Russian troops at the beginning of July after weeks of heavy fighting.
A Ukrainian soldier examines a Russian tank in the Kharkiv region.
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Image: AP
The Luhansk Oblast is the only Ukrainian administrative unit that has been completely occupied by the attackers. Head of Administration Hajdaj wrote in his Telegram channel that Ukrainian partisans had hoisted Ukrainian flags in several towns in the Luhansk region that were still under Russian control. “The occupiers and collaborators don’t dare take them away.” Hajdaj had already claimed on Sunday that numerous collaborators of the occupiers were trying to flee to Russia.
Meanwhile, in the Bakhmut area, Russian troops continued to attack Ukrainian positions. According to the Institute for the Study of War, the continuation of offensive actions, which have brought Russia little territorial gains in recent weeks, is reducing the ability of Russian troops to defend other sectors of the front.
So far 500 square kilometers have been liberated in the Cherson region
According to the think tank, the goal set by Moscow of conquering the entire Donetsk region is currently no longer achievable for the Russian troops.
The counter-offensive by the Ukrainian armed forces is also continuing in the Cherson region in southern Ukraine. According to the spokeswoman for the southern command of the Ukrainian army, about 500 square kilometers have been liberated in the Kherson region in the past few days.
On Monday she gave the names of five towns that are now fully under Ukrainian control. According to unofficial reports, one of them, the small town of Vysokopillya, was taken by the Ukrainian army a week ago.
The spokeswoman also claimed that Russian units in the region are trying to hold talks “on the conditions for laying down arms and passing under the care of international humanitarian law.” Russian troops west of the Dnipro are suffering from supply difficulties because Ukrainian forces have destroyed all bridges across the river.
