SHOVED BACK TO RUSSIA

Kharkiv victory for Ukr.

The Ukrainian counteroffensive around the northeastern city of Kharkiv has pushed Russian troops out of Ukraine and back over the border, officials in Kyiv said Monday.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense posted a video on Facebook showing troops with the 227 Battalion 127th Brigade of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces standing at a blue and yellow border post.

“Together for the win!” the ministry posted.

Ukrainian claims of reaching the Russian border come after a swift series of Ukrainian counterattacks outside Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.

Ukrainian forces last week succeeded in pushing Russian artillery out of range of the city, taking back a series of northern suburbs in the process. Kharkiv is located in northeastern Ukraine, some 25 miles from the northern border with Russia.

“We thank everyone who, risking their lives, liberates Ukraine from Russian invaders,” Oleh Sinegubov, governor of the Kharkiv oblast, wrote on the Telegram messaging app. “We still have a lot of work ahead of us, together — to victory! Glory to Ukraine!”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr

Zelensky praised the troops in a video message.

“I’m very grateful to you, on behalf of all Ukrainians, on my behalf and on behalf of my family,” he said. “I’m very grateful to all the fighters like you.”

In another success for Ukrainian forces, border guards repelled an incursion by a Russian sabotage and reconnaissance group in the northeastern region of Sumy on Monday, the Sumy governor said.

Dmytro Zhyvytsky wrote on Telegram that the Russian group entered Ukrainian territory under the cover of mortar shells, grenades and machine gun fire but retreated after the border guards fought back.

Intense fighting

Further east, in the Donbas region where Russia has been focusing its efforts, fighting remained fierce, with town-totown battles and reports of heavy casualties on both sides.

In the Donbas city of Severodonetsk, officials said there was heavy Russian bombardment Monday, killing at least 10 civilians. The Severodonetsk suburbs have seen numerous clashes over the past week.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk oblast that makes up the southern Donbas, said an additional nine civilians were killed in artillery strikes Monday, but he did not give any further details.

Russian strikes also hit western Ukraine, blasting a military training facility in Yavoriv near the Polish border, according to a senior US defense official.

Russia said Monday that it had agreed to evacuate wounded Ukrainian soldiers from the bunkers below the besieged Azovstal steel works in Mariupol to a medical facility in the Russian-controlled town of Novoazovsk.

Members of the Ukrainian Azov Regiment have been holed up in the plant for weeks, fending off Russian incursions under heavy bombardment.

In an evening address, Zelensky said the deal saved the soldiers’ lives.

“Ukraine needs Ukrainian heroes to be alive. That is our principle,” he said. “Our military and intelligence have started the operation to save Mariupol’s defenders.”

Meanwhile, audio captured the final moments of the Russian Black Sea flagship Moskva after it was struck by a Ukrainian missile in April — as a crewman shouts that the doomed vessel was sinking.

“Moskva-1, two holes! Propeller stalled! Sinking! Lying on its side!” the sailor yells, according to the Kyiv Independent.With