A Ukrainian counteroffensive in northeastern Ukraine has forced Russia to surrender much of the territory it has spent months and many lives seizing, writes The Washington Post.
In the videos verified by the publication, the Ukrainian military shows Russian equipment in various conditions: from combat -ready to in need of repair .
“In some cases, Ukrainian forces have destroyed Russian weapons, leaving smoldering vehicles to be discovered by advancing forces. Many of the finds are centered around Izyum, a strategic city southeast of Kharkov, located along transport routes that were key to the movement of the Russian army, WP writes.
According to analysts , over the past 7 days, Russia (as a result of capture or destruction) has lost more than 500 pieces of equipment, including more than 100 tanks:
Mykola Beleskov, a researcher at the National Institute for Strategic Studies in Kyiv, believes that Russia lacks the size of an army for a multi-layered defense in the northeast, after it redeployed troops to prepare for a Ukrainian counteroffensive in the south around Kherson.
In total, according to Beleskov, quoted by the Financial Times, Russia has sent between 200,000 and 250,000 troops to Ukraine. In the meantime, the US estimates that between 70,000 and 80,000 people have been killed or wounded since the invasion began. The publication emphasizes that Russian troops deployed along the 1300 km front line are too stretched, while Ukraine claims that the total number of its armed forces is 1 million people.
“Russia lost the best parts of its army in the first weeks, and the remaining best parts are being overexploited and depleted,” Dimitri Minich, an expert on the Russian military at the French Institute of International Relations, a think tank, was quoted by the FT.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy reports that at the moment stabilization measures have been completed in areas with a total area of more than 4,000 square kilometers:
“Stabilization continues in the liberated territory of about the same size. The remnants of the occupiers and sabotage groups are identified, collaborators are detained, and full security is restored. It is very important that together with our troops, with our flag, ordinary normal life come to the de-occupied territory. For example, in Balakliya, in Grakow, the payment of pensions for five months at once has already begun, for a time when we simply could not make payments due to the occupation. And payments will be received by all Ukrainian pensioners in the liberated territory. Ukraine always fulfills its social obligations to people.”
However, shelling near the liberated territories continues, in particular, a night artillery exchange of fire over Kupyansk is reported: