Ukrainian forces enter Izium, proving new offensive is working

When Ukrainian forces entered the city of Izium on Saturday, the act represented more than a major military victory. It was a sign that the war in Ukraine may be entering a new phase, in which troops russians fight to hold the territories they have captured in the last six months.

Russian forces were forced to flee the strategic eastern city just five days after the Ukraine initiated a new offensive to the east through the region of Kharkiv.

“The Russians escaped and left weapons and ammunition behind. The city center is free,” a spokesman for the Bohun Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces said in a statement Saturday afternoon.

The last five days have marked the most ambitious ground attacks by Ukrainians since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in late February.

Video and satellite images geolocated by the CNN show that advances have involved sustained attacks on command posts, ammunition depots and fuel reserves far beyond the front lines.

A senior US official said that Ukrainian forces had some success in attacking Russian supply lines, with the intention of cutting off and isolating the enemy army west of the Dnipro River.

Saturday’s rapid advance did not end with Izium, as Ukraine appears to have opened a new front against Russian defenses on the border of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The head of the Luhansk regional military administration, Serhiy Hayday, indicated that the city of Lysychansk is the target of the new operation.

Lysychansk was the last city in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine to come under Russian control in July after weeks of intense fighting. Hayday told CNN on Saturday that “the occupiers, including the collaborators and the military, are fleeing in a hurry”.

“Residents have videos and photos proving this,” added Hayday. He said visual evidence cannot be shared for security reasons. THE CNN failed to verify Hayday’s claim, but at least at one border crossing into Russia there are lines of vehicles forming.

Oleksiy Reznikov, the Ukrainian defense minister, said on Saturday that Ukraine’s allies were “surprised” by the country’s military’s recent successes.

Speaking at the end of a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Reznikov noted that Ukraine’s “partners were positively surprised by the dynamics of our troops’ activities” in the south and east of the country.

Russian reinforcements

As Russian forces struggle to contain the Ukrainian advance in the east, Moscow is trying to bolster its military units.

Video footage taken by Russian military journalist Yevgeniy Poddubny on Friday showed Russian helicopters arriving in the region and at least one unloading an armored vehicle.

Poddubny reported on Friday that Russian military headquarters were using Mi-26 helicopters to reinforce units in Kharkiv with men and armored vehicles, redeploying reserve troops to Kupyansk and Izium.

But reinforcements don’t seem to have helped. In a major strategic victory for Kiev, both Izium and Kupyansk were recaptured.

Izium, which is close to the border between the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, had been under Russian occupation for more than five months and has become a major center for the invading military.

Russia was using Izium as a launch pad for southern attacks in the Donetsk and Kupyansk region, about 30 miles north of Izium, and as a rail hub to resupply its forces.

Several videos of Ukrainian troops standing at the Izium sign at the entrance to the city were posted on Telegram. A portion of the footage was allegedly recorded by a reconnaissance unit of Ukraine’s 25th Parachute Brigade. In the video, a voice is heard saying: “We are in Izium. Everything will be Ukraine. Our flag is already here.”

Kiev said its forces had also cut off an important Russian supply line in the Kharkiv region and were moving further east. At the same time, the Ukrainian military reported that losses were inflicted on Russian forces in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine.

Even Russian-backed officials in Izium were forced to admit the withdrawal on Saturday. The head of the pro-Russian administration of the city of Izium, Vladislav Sokolov, was quoted by Russian state news agency RIA as claiming that the situation in Izium was “very difficult”.

Later, Sokolov was quoted by Russian state news agency TASS as saying: “We have started the evacuation, albeit at a slow pace, but as far as possible we are taking them to the territory of the Russian Federation.”

Kirill Imashev, the military correspondent for Russian Telegram channel Readovka, said Russian forces had left Kupyansk and retreated across the Oskil River to “regroup”, but claimed that the city’s residents “hurriedly left their homes, fearing reprisals from the Kiev regime.”

“Hundreds of cars are leaving Kupyansk for LPR [autodeclarada República Popular de Luhansk]”, he stated.

Evidence available on social media networks shows that the civilian population in the liberated areas greeted the Ukrainian forces with enthusiasm. Ukrainian officials have promised that anyone who collaborates with the occupation forces will face criminal sanctions.

Ukraine said some Russian troops are defecting due to the “significant losses” they have suffered. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed on Friday that at least 15 defections had taken place. The institution explains that the soldiers were ditching their uniforms and wearing civilian clothes in an effort to blend in as they tried to return to Russian territory.

Meanwhile, Moscow was trying to paint a different picture of the Ukrainian advance.

In its first response to the gains made by Ukrainian forces in recent days, the Russian Defense Ministry said that “the decision was taken to regroup Russian troops in the areas of Balakleya and Izyum and redirect their efforts towards Donetsk”.

Ukrainian troops advancing have reported scenes of destruction as they retake areas from Russian control.

The head of the military administration of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said he visited recently liberated areas where the Russians “left infrastructure and broken houses, many trophies and piles of rubbish”, and posted photos of the scenes on Telegram.

“The people, without exaggeration, found our soldiers with tears in their eyes,” Syniehubov narrates. “The residents, of course, need help. Most villages do not have electricity or gas. In the near future, we will restore them and bring in humanitarian aid.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pointed out that negotiations with the Russian Federation around the end of the war are currently “impossible”.

“The Russians are not ready to admit that they occupied our country. That means there will be no substantive dialogue,” Zelensky said during the Yalta annual European Strategy meeting in Kyiv on Saturday. “So that we can open a diplomatic corridor with [a Rússia]they must show political will, show that they are ready to return foreign lands.”

*With information from Ivana Kottasová, Tim Lister, Yulia Kesaieva, Denis Lapin, Josh Pennington and Victoria Butenko, CNN