On the 200th day of Russia-Ukraine war, Ukraine claimed to have recaptured several territories in the Kharkiv region and established full control over the Balakliia and Kupyansk cities while Russia said the troops were withdrawn to reinforce operations elsewhere in the neighbouring Donetsk region.
As per the media reports, Russia left its main bastion in north-eastern Ukraine’s Izyum area, Kharkiv on Saturday.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian forces recaptured about 2,000sq km (700sq miles) of territory and continued to make significant gains in the Kharkiv region over the last 24 hours.
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“Ukrainian forces established full control over the cities of Balakliia, Kupyansk,” said deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar.
“Now police patrolling the regained towns have found boxes of ammunition in heaps left behind by Russian forces,” he said.
While as Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba have called for more weapons.
“We have demonstrated we are capable of defeating the Russian army. We are doing that with weapons given to us. And so I reiterate: the more weapons we receive, the faster we will win, and the faster this war will end,” he said.
However, the Russian defence ministry directed its inhabitants in the Kharkhiv region to evacuate for saving lives and claimed that its air force destroyed a Ukrainian radar tracking station in the southern Mykolaiv region and six weapon and missile depots in the eastern and southeastern areas.
“To achieve the stated goals of the special military operation for the liberation of Donbas, it was decided to regroup the Russian troops located in the districts of Balakliia and Izyum for the purpose of increasing efforts in the Donetsk direction,” Russia’s defence ministry added.
