Disclaimer: A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While WION takes utmost care to accurately report this developing news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday (September 7) reported “good news” from the front near Kharkiv in the east, saying some settlements had been recaptured. Both sides have reported heavy fighting in the region.
During the evening video address, Zelensky thanked Ukrainian artillery troops for “successful strikes” against the Russian forces in the south of Ukraine.
Zelensky said, “This week we have good news from Kharkiv region” and “now is not the right time to name those settlements, where the Ukrainian flag has returned”.
According to the mayor of the city, Russian forces carried out two missile strikes in Kharkiv overnight. Ihor Terekhov posted on Telegram, saying that rockets hit the neighbourhoods of Saltovskoye and Kholodnogorsk at around midnight local time.
As per the US-based think tank, The Institute for the Study of War, Ukraine has retaken 400 sq km of territory in the east of the Kharkiv region.
After doing the latest assessment of the ground situation, the group said that, on September 7, the Ukrainian forces “likely used tactical surprise to advance at least 20km into Russian-held territory”.
The group also states that Ukraine was “likely exploiting Russian force reallocation” to the south to “conduct an opportunistic yet highly effective counteroffensive” to the northwest of the city of Izyum.
The report further added that Russia had been forced to shift its focus on its forces in the south because of Ukraine’s ongoing operations in the Kherson region.
Of late, Ukraine has been waging a counter-offensive in the south of the country since last week, where it also claimed to recapture several villages.
Kharkiv region has been partly occupied by Russian troops since the start of the invasion launched on February 24.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a combative speech on Wednesday (September 7) to an economic forum that Russia would not lose what he calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Putin said all Russia’s actions were designed to strengthen the country’s sovereignty and were aimed at “helping people” living in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
Putin said, “We have not lost anything and will not lose anything. In terms of what we have gained, I can say that the main gain has been the strengthening of our sovereignty.”
Putin conceded, however, that Moscow’s decision to send troops into Ukraine had created a “certain polarisation, both in the world and within the country.”
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