The push of Russian troops appears to be consolidating in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine, in the northeast of the country, while Ukraine is concentrating its slow counter-offensive in the south, where it wants to break through enemy defenses in Kherson and Zaporizhia. Faced with the Russian advance, Ukraine will evacuate thousands of people.
The measure, ordered yesterday Thursday by the authorities of the Kupiansk district, will affect 37 towns in the south of Kharkiv. The head of the district military administration, Andriy Kanashevich, noted that the evacuation is mandatory. In a statement published on Telegram, that administration says that “in the territories close to the combat zone, the mandatory evacuation of the population to safe regions of Ukraine will be carried out.” The affected localities are located on the left bank of the Oskil River, a subtributary of the Don River.
The measure affects more than 11,000 people, including 600 children. But this is not at all surprising, considering the situation on the front lines in recent weeks. A day before, Kanashevich had already asked the residents of this area to leave it voluntarily. He suggested that they “responsibly and thoughtfully decide to temporarily move to safe territories.”
The main city in this area, Kupiansk, which in 2021 had a population of 25,000, is not affected by the evacuation order. But those responsible for its administration have recommended that its inhabitants go to Kharkiv, the regional capital.
Since the beginning of August, the Russian Ministry of Defense has been reporting the successful advance of its offensive in Kharkiv in the direction of Kupiansk. His spokesman, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov, said last Monday that Russian troops had taken three kilometers on a battlefront with a width of eleven kilometers. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar assured the same day that Moscow is trying to recover a territory that it occupied since the beginning of its military intervention, in February 2022, and from which it had to withdraw after the counterattack of the Ukrainian troops.
Now on the offensive, in recent weeks Moscow has claimed progress on the ground. “In the direction of Kupiansk, during their offensive actions, the assault units of the ‘West’ combat groups have improved their positions on the front line,” the Russian Defense Ministry announced yesterday in its daily statement.
