Ukrainian forces "inflicted a major operational defeat on Russia, recapturing almost all Kharkiv Oblast in a rapid counter-offensive" that, in the span of a little more than a week, pushed fleeing Russian troops out of 1,160 square miles of previously occupied territory, the Institute for the Study of War said Sunday night. The recapture of Izium, which Russia had been using as a key operations and logistics hub for its eastern campaign, "ended the prospect that Russia could accomplish its stated objectives" of capturing Ukraine's Donbas region.
Russia's Ministry of Defense acknowledged that its forces had left Kharkiv province, purportedly to "regroup," but Ukrainians in the newly liberated villages described a rout, The Washington Post reports, with Russian soldiers fleeing "any way they could," including "on stolen bicycles, disguised as locals," after leaving behind what appear to be large stockpiles of weapons, from rifles to tanks and stores of ammunition.
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