Ukraine presses counteroffensive on key Russian line of assault – governor
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(Refiles with Ukrainian spelling of city of Izium, not Izyum)
By Tom Balmforth
KYIV (Reuters) -Ukrainian forces are on the counteroffensive close to the Russian-held city of Izium, the governor of Kharkiv area mentioned on Saturday, placing at a key axis of Russia’s assault on japanese Ukraine.
A significant and profitable counteroffensive on that Russian line of advance would deal a critical setback for Moscow within the Battle for the Donbas, a area in Ukraine’s east that Russia has mentioned it desires to seize utterly.
Moscow’s forces have been making an attempt to battle their method south from the city of Izium, the northern a part of a Russian pincer motion aimed toward outflanking battle-hardened Ukrainian forces dug in to defend the japanese entrance line.
“The most well liked spot stays the Izium route,” regional governor Oleh Sinegubov mentioned in feedback aired on social media.
“Our armed forces have switched to a counteroffensive there. The enemy is retreating on some fronts and that is the results of the character of our armed forces,” he mentioned.
In a attainable shift in momentum within the warfare, Ukraine has been recapturing territory in its northeast, driving Russia away from the second-largest Ukrainian metropolis of Kharkiv of their quickest advance since Moscow’s troops pulled away from Kyiv.
Ukrainian forces destroyed elements of a Russian armoured column because it tried to cross a river within the Donbas, video from Ukraine’s army confirmed on Friday, and its defence minister predicted many weeks of grinding combating forward.
Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, driving in the direction of however failing to succeed in the capital, earlier than withdrawing to focus its firepower on the south and the Donbas.
Moscow introduced on April 19 that the second section of what it calls its “particular operation” had begun. It says the operation’s goal is to disarm Ukraine and defend it from fascists, a declare Kyiv and its Western allies dismiss as a false pretext to wage an unprovoked warfare of aggression.
(Reporting by Tom Balmforth and Pavel PolityukEditing by Gareth Jones)