Ukraine calls for more arms
ZOLOCHIV: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is calling on the West to speed up deliveries of weapons systems as Ukrainian troops move to consolidate control over a large swath of northeastern territory seized back from Russia.
Since Moscow abandoned its main bastion in northeastern Ukraine on Sunday in its worst defeat since the early days of the war, Ukrainian troops have recaptured dozens of towns in a stunning shift in battleground momentum.
A senior US military official said Russia had largely ceded territory near Kharkiv in the northeast and pulled many of its troops back over the border.
Washington and its allies have provided Ukraine with billions of dollars in weapons that Kyiv says have helped limit Russian gains.
In a video address yesterday, Zelenskiy said Ukraine and the West must ‘‘strengthen cooperation to defeat Russian terror’’.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Ukrainian forces had made ‘‘significant progress’’ with Western support.
Zelenskiy said Ukraine had recaptured roughly 6000sq km of territory, a sliver of Ukraine’s overall land mass of around 600,000sq km.
Russia has taken control of around a fifth of Ukraine since its troops invaded on February 24.
President Vladimir Putin and his senior officials have been largely silent in the face of Russian forces’ worst defeat since April, when they were repelled from the outskirts of Kyiv.
As thousands of Russian troops pulled back, leaving behind ammunition and equipment, Russia fired missiles at power stations, causing blackouts in the Kharkiv and adjacent Poltava and Sumy regions.
As Ukrainian forces swept closer into territory seized from Russian troops in the north, joyful residents returned to their frontline villages for the first time in months.
‘‘People are crying, people are joyful, of course. How could they not be joyful!’’ retired English teacher Zoya (76) said , in the nowquiet village of Zolochiv, north of Kharkiv and 18km from the Russian frontier. — Reuters