The withdrawal of the Russian army in eastern and southern Ukraine is illustrated with maps

Kyiv forces continue their military breakthroughs on two fronts: in the Kharkiv region (northeast) and Kherson region (south) and push the Russian soldiers back, gradually regaining the main conflict areas.

Lyman, Novopetrivka … The Ukrainian flag that flies over dozens of sites recovered from the Russians is a symbol of the progress of the Kyiv army. In the last hours, the Ukrainian forces continued their military penetration on two fronts: in the Kharkiv region (northeast) and in the Kherson region (south), which pushed the Russians to retreat.

big drop

Maps released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Tuesday during its daily briefing show this significant decline. The map focused on southern Ukraine, compared to the previous day, shows that Russian forces have left a large number of localities on the western bank of the Dnipro River, where the Ukrainian army is carrying out a counterattack.

Moreover, the map of the Kharkiv region also shows that the Russians left almost all of the eastern bank of the Oskil River, the last area of ​​the region that they still controlled, and Moscow’s forces there were also defeated by the Ukrainians. The counterattack was carried out for several weeks.

Advance “Fast and Powerful”

These significant developments show that Kyiv continues to reoccupy the occupied territories, even though their “annexation” has been formalized by Vladimir Putin by referendum.

Observers say Ukraine is working to reclaim as much of its occupied territory as possible before Russia sends hundreds of thousands of potential reinforcements to the battlefield, mobilized through the country’s partial mobilization.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily speech posted on social networks on Tuesday that the Ukrainian army is making “quick and fairly strong progress in the south of our country”.

He said that “dozens of localities were liberated this week alone” in four regions annexed by Russia last weekend.

The front is approaching Kherson

The progress of the Ukrainian forces at the moment is the most spectacular in the Kherson region. This counterattack in the south, which advanced much more slowly than the meteorite push in the Kharkiv region in September, suddenly accelerated.

Ukrainian forces advanced tens of kilometers to the south of the region, liberating towns and villages and pushing back Russian units in recent days from a large swath of land along the western bank of the Dnieper River.

Shown on the maps are areas in light pink, kilometers of reclaimed land. Day by day, the front line is retreating and getting closer to the main city of Kherson. “The city of Kherson is of military importance because the Ukrainians lost it at the beginning of the conflict, but it is also symbolically important because it is part of the territories that were joined with Russia through referendums,” explains to BFMTV Emmanuel Dupuy, head of the Institute for the Future and Security in Europe (IPSE).

“For the 25,000 Russian soldiers stationed in Kherson, it’s like a trap approaching them: they risk being surrounded,” explains Michel Goya, BFMTV’s defense consultant.

East penetration

These Ukrainian victories in the Kherson region came after Lyman, over the weekend, recaptured a strategic railway junction. Ukrainian forces have now passed through this town and continue to advance towards the east. Their new military target is the town of Kremina, in the Luhansk region, where Russia has retained its strongest influence, according to Nicholas Cadeau, BFMTV’s special envoy to Ukraine.

The collapse of the Russian position on Lyman came just as the Kremlin claimed that the city and the entire Donetsk region, as well as Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia, were annexed to Russia.

As a result, Russian control of the Luhansk region, mostly undisputed since June, is now in jeopardy.