News of the Week published a story about the events near Kharkov, where the Armed Forces of Ukraine went on the offensive and liberated the cities of Balakleya, Izyum, Volchansk and the western part of Kupyansk from Russian invaders. The story about the course of hostilities, which is not the most pleasant for the Putin regime, as presented by correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny , looks surprisingly optimistic:
“The enemy’s counteroffensive in the north-east of the special military operation zone has been stopped, the grouping of Russian forces has managed to stabilize the situation. An attempt to encircle units and formations of the Russian army in the Izyum area was prevented. Thanks to the successful actions of the allies, the breakthrough of the formations of the Kyiv regime in the Liman direction was thwarted. <…>
The units and formations of the Russian army that left Izyum retreated to positions along the left bank of the Oskol River and the Oskol reservoir. Until recently, Russian control over Kupyansk was maintained. A partial evacuation of civilians was carried out. <…>
The grouping of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is now stretched, does not have prepared positions. It is already known that the losses of the enemy are more than 2 thousand people killed. Many units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine trained by Western instructors have temporarily lost the ability to conduct active combat operations.
Poddubny is right about one thing: the Ukrainian counteroffensive has been halted in some areas. These are the areas where the Armed Forces of Ukraine reached the Russian border. They do not enter the territory of the Russian Federation, the seizure of Russian territory is not part of their task. The fact that Ukrainian forces took control of the border with Russia in the Kharkiv region the morning after the broadcast of Vesti Nedeli was confirmed by the WarGonzo Telegram channel of the Russian pro-Kremlin military commissar Semyon Pegov.
The battles for the city of Liman continued all Sunday, when Poddubny's story came out, and continued the next day. The same WarGonzo channel admitted on Monday afternoon that the Armed Forces of Ukraine had set up a pontoon crossing over the Seversky Donets and reached the outskirts of the city.
As for the attempt of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to encircle the Russian units in Izyum and its suburbs, it was indeed prevented. True, for this, the Russian troops had to hastily leave the city and its environs.
On Monday evening, WarGonzo acknowledged the “difficult situation” in Belogorivka and Svyatogorsk in the Donetsk region, where the Ukrainian Armed Forces are advancing. According to unconfirmed information, as of Monday evening, Belogorovka has already been liberated, control over Svyatogorsk does not fully belong to either side.