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Russia announces troop pullback from Ukraine’s Kharkiv area
sgtdjones
2022-09-10 22:19:55
Russia announces troop pullback from Ukraine’s Kharkiv area
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia’s Defense Ministry announced Saturday that it was pulling back troops from two areas in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region where a Ukrainian counteroffensive has made significant advances in the past week.The news came after days of apparent advances by Ukraine south of Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, in what could become the biggest battlefield success for Ukrainian forces since they thwarted a Russian attempt to seize the capital, Kyiv, at the start of the nearly seven-month war.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said troops would be regrouped from the Balakliya and Izyum areas to the eastern Donetsk region. Izyum was a major base for Russian forces in the Kharkiv region, and earlier this week social media videos showed residents of Balakliya joyfully cheering as Ukrainian troops moved in.
Konashenkov said the Russian move was being made “in order to achieve the stated goals of the special military operation to liberate Donbas,’” one of the eastern Ukraine regions that Russia has declared sovereign.Also Saturday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock paid an unannounced visit to Kyiv and said Europe would not tire of helping Ukraine, despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to raise the pressure by withholding energy supplies.
Baerbock said Germany will assist Ukraine in finding and removing mines and other unexploded ordnance left by Russian troops in areas where they have been pushed back.
The claim of a withdrawal to concentrate on Donetsk is similar to the justification Russia gave for pulling back its forces from the Kyiv region earlier this year when they failed to take the capital.Earlier Saturday, Ukrainian officials claimed major gains in the Kharkiv region, saying their troops had cut off vital supplies to Izyum.
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Western weapons making a big difference.
When Russia needs outdated Iran and North Korean weapons , somebody is in trouble.
FanAttick
2022-09-10 23:14:47
terminator
2022-09-11 00:25:03
In reply to sgtdjones
I almost feel sorry for the people celebrating it, it’s a set up for a Russian pincer maneuver. Classic draw them out and then destroy them with overwhelming force.
Ukrainians getting destroyed after running to reclaim territory
Brerzerk
2022-09-11 00:28:00
China knows which side its bread is buttered on so except for a few drones and some chips no dice. Where are Termie, Commie et al?
sgtdjones
2022-09-11 00:49:53
The fall of the strategically important city of Izium,
in Ukraine’s east, is the most devastating blow to Russia since its humiliating retreat from Kyiv.
KYIV, Ukraine — A lightning Ukrainian offensive in the country’s northeast has reshaped what had become a grinding war of attrition. In a matter of days, Russian front lines have buckled, Moscow’s troops have fled and one village after another has come once more beneath Ukraine’s yellow and blue banner.Russia’s Ministry of Defense — which a day earlier had said it was moving to reinforce its defensive positions in the region — confirmed on Saturday that it had pulled its forces out of Izium to “regroup.” While the statement sought to portray the withdrawal as a pre-planned move, the military equipment left scattered about pointed to a hasty retreat to avoid encirclement.
Ukraine’s capture of Izium could represent a turning point in the war, dwarfed only by Russia’s humiliating defeat around the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in the spring.The successful Ukrainian offensive, which began this past week near Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, serves as a testament to the endurance of Ukrainian troops and, once more, the shortcomings of the Russian war machine. He warned that the next 90 days of fighting, as the seasons change and temperatures drop, would be crucial.Western intelligence agencies estimate that both sides have losses in the tens of thousands, making Ukraine’s recent gains even more remarkable, while highlighting the fatigue in the Russian ranks, which have suffered 80,000 wounded and killed since the war began, according to the agencies.Those problems will be further compounded by the loss of Izium. An important supply hub, the city was a military way station for Russian forces in parts of the Donbas. With those lines severed, as seems increasingly likely, Russian forces, especially their artillery batteries, will come under increasing strain.
Though captured Russian equipment has proved increasingly important for depleted Ukrainian troops, Western-supplied artillery, long-range HIMARS rocket systems and anti-air defenses have played a significant role in the offensives’ outcome so far.But Western analysts have also attributed Kyiv’s recent victories to superior tactics, better planning, higher morale and a decentralized command structure, all of which seem to have combined to enable its military to seize the initiative and, for now, to succeed against a numerically superior force.
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sgtdjones
2022-09-11 00:58:07
As Russians Retreat, Putin Is Criticized by Hawks Who Trumpeted His War
Russian bloggers reporting from the front line provide a uniquely less-censored view of the war. But as Russia’s military flails, these once vocal supporters are exposing its flaws, lies and all.As Russian forces hastily retreated in northeastern Ukraine on Saturday in one of their most embarrassing setbacks of the war, President Vladimir V. Putin was at a park in Moscow, presiding over the grand opening of a Ferris wheel.“It’s very important for people to be able to relax with friends and family,” Mr. Putin intoned.
The outrage from Russian hawks on Saturday showed that even as Mr. Putin had succeeded in eliminating just about all of the liberal and pro-democracy opposition in Russia’s domestic politics, he still faced the risk of discontent from the conservative end of the political spectrum.“Most of these people are in shock and did not think that this could happen,” Dmitri Kuznets, who analyzes the war for the Russian-language news outlet Meduza, said in a phone interview. “Most of them are, I think, genuinely angry.”One of the bloggers, Yuri Podolyaka, who is from Ukraine but moved to Сrimea following its annexation in 2014, told his 2.3 million Telegram followers on Friday that if the military continued to play down its battlefield setbacks, Russians would “cease to trust the Ministry of Defense and soon the government as a whole.”On Aug. 30, a Kremlin spokesman held his regular conference call with journalists and repeated his mantra: The invasion of Ukraine was going “in accordance with the plans.”
The same day, several Russian bloggers were reporting on social media that something was very much not going according to plan. Ukraine was building up forces for a counterattack near the town of Balakliya, they said, and Russia did not appear in position to defend against it.Days later, it became apparent that the answer was no. Ukrainian forces overran Russia’s thin defenses in Balakliya and other nearby towns in northeastern Ukraine.As a result, analysts say, Mr. Putin faces no good options. Escalating a war whose domestic support may turn out to be superficial could stir domestic unrest, while continuing retreats on the battlefield could spur a backlash from hawks who have bought into the Kremlin narrative that Russia is fighting “Nazis” for its very survival.
Ever since Russia retreated in April from its attempt to capture Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, the Kremlin’s goals in the war have been unclear, disorienting Mr. Putin’s supporters, said Rob Lee, a military analyst at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
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black
2022-09-11 01:09:06
terminator
2022-09-11 09:48:09
In reply to black
The defeat of Ukraine is total defeat of the globalists, Russia will win the war without a doubt. The US and NATO want to fight Russia but are hiding behind Ukraine to do it. Ukraine is being used as cannon fodder by the globalist elite to take on Russia.
Russia hasn’t declared war yet. If they did and fully mobilized to full combat strength this would be over already. This is still a special military operation with restrictions on troop and military hardware deployments with specific focus on limiting civilian casualties and damage to critical infrastructure needed for operation of the country.
black
2022-09-11 11:13:12
In reply to terminator
Russia hasn’t declared war yet. If they did and fully mobilized to full combat strength this would be over already
So they settled for heavy casualties instead?
You're making this stuff up without a proper understanding of how war is carried out.
Given Russia's struggles with logistics, do you think they would have been more efficient with more troops?
Can Russia cover the cost of more troops in this war and not suffer similar fate like they did in Afghanistan?
JOJO
2022-09-11 13:18:56
In reply to terminator
Russia hasn’t declared war yet. If they did and fully mobilized to full combat strength this would be over already. This is still a special military operation with restrictions on troop and military hardware deployments
Yes! Yes! The troops are returning to Russia and leaving all the outdated equipment behind! They are going to collect the newer, better stuff! The stupid Ukrainians are just following them to the border.
When they return, they will take Ukraine in 72 hours—just as Vlad the Great had promised.
JOJO
2022-09-11 13:18:58
terminator
2022-09-11 13:30:25
In reply to JOJO
Have the US won the war yet? The US and NATO pouring all the money and equipment into Ukraine and still as a combined effort after six months can’t beat the Russians???
Ukraine is definitely winning the war! 
terminator
2022-09-11 13:39:22
In reply to black
As I said before they haven’t declared war so they are not fully mobilised. They entered the war with 175,000 troops compared to nearly a million for Ukraine who had been getting unlimited military support from the US and NATO . The Russians are heavily out numbered and after six months of a combined US, NATO, Ukraine effort still can’t be beaten. So who is winning? Ukraine?
As I said before Russia launched a special military operation with specific goals to be achieved. One of those goals will soon be realized when they take the last remaining sea port in Odessa cutting off Ukraine access to the Black Sea and making what’s left of Ukraine a landlocked country economically.
The Russians don’t have to take Kiev to make Ukraine fall. The industrial heartland that accounts for 80% of Ukraine GDP is already firmly in control of the Russians which is the Donbass region.
Ukraine as a country is finished.
Russia has already accomplished its main goal which is taking back its historical lands in the Donbass which the communists lead by Lenin had no right to take from Russia to form Ukraine .
JOJO
2022-09-11 13:39:50
In reply to terminator
Have the US won the war yet? The US and NATO pouring all the money and equipment into Ukraine and still as a combined effort after six months can’t beat the Russians???
Comical Ali had nothing on you
How many US/NATO fighter aircraft or bombers have been involved.
You do realize that what has the Russians “returning home to get better equipment” is 16 light rocket launchers (HIMARS), right?
JOJO
2022-09-11 13:39:52
terminator
2022-09-11 13:40:59
In reply to JOJO
Again all that u stated , after six months why can’t they defeat the Russians?
Explain
black
2022-09-11 13:53:04
black
2022-09-11 14:00:04
In reply to terminator
Again all that u stated , after six months why can’t they defeat the Russians?
Explain
Isn't that backwards?
Wasn't Russia the one that did the invading?
terminator
2022-09-11 21:25:07
In reply to black
No more nice play, Russia has just bombed Ukraine's electrical grid back to the stone age.
Ukraine's counter offensive is the most foolish desperate move, a suicidal attack killing 1000s Ukronazis, equivalence of japanese kamikaze missions in WW2.
Throwing everything hoping for a miracle.
FanAttick
2022-09-11 22:32:01
In reply to terminator
Hi Baghdad Bob
sgtdjones
2022-09-11 23:25:31
In reply to FanAttick
Commie threw Termie under the bus ....
FanAttick
2022-09-12 09:18:44
In reply to sgtdjones
Commie threw Termie under the bus ....
Not only Comrade Commie alone….
Look like everybody is throwing everybody under the Ukraine bus
Fantom
2022-09-12 11:38:26
A man in what appears to be some kind of military uniform said this in a @JuliaDavis tweet:
I'll respond to the nervous ones at once. Let's wait for the official statement from the Ministry of Defence. This special military operation is a difficult man's job. Our heroes are doing what they can. Nothing is ever simple. The frontline can move back and forth. What matters is how it ends. Let me remind you that Josif Vissarionovich Stalin called for the ones who panic to be shot.
Termie, I understand, bro.
FanAttick
2022-09-12 12:27:46
