A U.S. official claims that the supply of Western weapons can "tilt the battlefield in Ukraine's favor" amid the nation's ongoing war with Russia.
The remarks come as a conservative estimate of the land that the Ukrainian military has recaptured from Russian forces in the northeast region surrounding the city of Kharkiv was 2,500 square kilometers.
Russia-Ukraine War
Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister on Monday asserted in a Facebook post that the stretch was closer to 6,000 square kilometers. The sudden turnaround of the situation was not a result of intense fighting but rather the absence of it.
Russian forces have simply run away from the area, said military sources in Kyiv, allowing Ukrainian troops to advance in at their leisure. According to an order given by Moscow to its troops in the area in and around Kharkiv, the withdrawal is simply a "regrouping operation."
That phrase is widely viewed as a euphemism for a defeat that has been increasingly difficult to disguise as details of Russia's moves in recent days have been meticulously documented in the international press and on social media platforms, including among hardline Russian nationalists and military analysts, as per Yahoo News.
The reality that many are starting to believe is that there has been nothing "operational" about the Russian troops' withdrawal. Soldiers fled while riding bicycles and in cars that were stolen at gunpoint from Ukrainian villagers said Ukrainian eyewitnesses who were interviewed.
Russian forces stripped off their uniforms and put on civilian clothes to evade Ukrainian reconnaissance drones. This was because some retreating forces were suffering heavy losses from Ukrainian firepower.
According to The Atlantic, in recent days, Ukraine's armed forces have broken through the Russian lines in the northeastern corner of the country. They have gone eastward and liberated town after town in what had been occupied territory.
Battle for Territory
The first was Balakliiya, then Kupyansk, then Izium, a city that sits on major supply routes. While these areas would not mean much to foreign audiences, they are places that have been beyond the reach of the Ukrainian military for months.
Many of the things about Ukraine's advance are unexpected, especially the location. For several weeks, Ukrainians loudly telegraphed their intention to launch a major offensive farther south. The most shocking part is not Ukraine's tactics, but Russia's response.
Lt. Gen. Yevhen Moisiuk, the deputy commander in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces said that what really surprised them was that the Russian troops were not fighting back. More than just Moscow's forces not fighting back, when given an option to either fight or flee, the majority seem to be escaping as fast as they can.
The situation comes as Ukraine is fighting both a physical and cyber war against Russia. Shortly after the beginning of the war, Ukrainian leaders in Kyiv made an unusual ask and called on IT professionals in the country and around the world to help defend themselves against cyberattacks.
These professionals took to their keyboards to assist Ukraine and in the six months since the war, Ukraine and its international allies have become more organized, more focused, and more determined than ever to keep Russian hackers on the back foot, NPR reported.
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