Putin forces ‘pushed back near Kharkiv’
UKRAINIAN soldiers were today reported to have pushed Russian forces further away from their country’s second city by recapturing more territory in a new sign that their fightback is achieving success.
The villages of Cherkaski Tyshky, Ruski Tyshki, Borshchova and Slobozhanske outside Kharkiv in north eastern Ukraine have all been retaken, a spokesman said.
One Russian source quoted by the US based think tank, The Institute of War, said the victories meant that Vladimir Putin’s troops — who in the early days of the war were trying to seize Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city — had retreated to within six miles of the border.
The victories for Ukraine came as the Ministry of Defence said that successful drone strikes carried out against Russian supply ships and forces on Snake Island were disrupting Moscow’s attempts to expand its influence in the Black Sea. In an intelligence update, the MoD said the result that was that Russia was “repeatedly trying to reinforce its exposed garrison located there” on Snake Island.
It added: “Ukraine has struck Russian air defences and resupply vessels with Bayraktar drones. Russia’s resupply vessels have minimum protection in the western Black Sea, following the
Russian navy’s retreat to Crimea after the loss of the Russian warship Moskva.”
Fighting on the island, officially known as Zmiinyi Island, which was captured by Russia earlier in the conflict, is continuing. Today’s successes follow reports of effective Ukrainian resistance in the Donbas region, which has become Vladimir Putin’s primary target, and were hailed by Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky.