Ukraine regains control of Kharkiv and cities that were seized at the beginning of the Russian invasion | Ukraine

Ukraine consolidated its control of the Kharkiv region on Tuesday, raising flags on towns and villages occupied by Russian troops for six months and recapturing areas seized by Moscow on the first day of Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

The state border service in Kiev said it had liberated the town of Vovchansk, a few kilometers from the international border. Russian soldiers left on Sunday, it added, after the stunning Ukrainian counter-offensive.

In a matter of days, Ukraine has pushed the Russians out of more than 6,000 square kilometers of territory, including zones in the south of the country, where a separate counter-offensive is underway to retake the city of Kherson.

Russian units have fled in disarray. Serhiy Hadai, the governor of the Luhansk region, said local partisans had raised the Ukrainian flag over the key town of Kreminna, which was “completely empty”. Its Russian occupiers had either left the area or were too afraid to take it down, he suggested.

Russian battalions have fallen back to new positions east of the Oskil River, about 10 miles from the recently liberated city of Izium. The city was almost completely destroyed, and more than 1,000 residents were killed during the five-month occupation and in recent fighting, Kyiv says.

Video confirmed the extent of the damage. It showed pulverized high-rise blocks, trashed schools, blown bridges and burnt-out Russian military vehicles marked with the letter Z. The Kremlin used Izium as a garrison and weapons depot in its operation to capture Donbas.

A Western official said it was “too early to say” whether Ukraine’s success in reclaiming 6,000 square kilometers of territory in the Kharkiv region represented “a turning point” in the six-month war, in a briefing downplaying the significance of Kiev’s the reconquest of Izium and Kupiansk.

Nevertheless, the official acknowledged that it was “a moment that has power”, and they confirmed that the amount of territory that Ukraine has gained in the past week was equivalent to “half of Wales”. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.

Western officials praised Ukraine’s “innovative and experimental” military strategy compared to Russia’s, whose leaders at times referred decisions to the Kremlin, slowing the battlefield response.

“Moscow is working with a long screwdriver,” the official added.

The United States said it had helped Ukraine counter potential counteroffensive strategies in the weeks leading up to the attack in Kharkiv province. Ukrainian commanders began opening up more to American and British intelligence officials and seeking advice, the New York Times reported.

“We did some models and some tabletop exercises,” Colin Kahl, the Pentagon’s policy chief, told the paper. “That set of exercises suggested that certain paths to a counteroffensive were likely to be more successful than others. We gave that advice, and then the Ukrainians internalized that and made their own decision.”

On Tuesday, there were claims that Russian intelligence officers and military leaders had begun evacuating from Crimea and “rapidly resettling their families”, in the wake of the latest defeats on the battlefield.

Kyiv’s main intelligence directorate said employees working for the FSB – the spy agency Vladimir Putin used to run – have been quietly moving their relatives back to Russian Federation territory. They have also sold their apartments, the directorate claims.

Until recently, the possibility of Ukraine taking back Crimea had seemed remote. But a series of mysterious and devastating Ukrainian attacks over the summer on Russian airfields and weapons dumps, as well as the collapse of Russian forces in the Kharkiv region, have resulted in thousands of residents fleeing.

The claim is difficult to verify. But Crimea’s Moscow-appointed leader, Sergei Aksyonov, appears increasingly rattled. In a video address on Monday, he threatened local residents with prosecution if they listen to Ukrainian music or shout Ukrainian slogans.

From Monday, anyone wishing to leave the peninsula via the Crimean Bridge must seek permission from a conscription office, it has been announced. There is also a ban on house sales. Local pro-Kremlin television stations, meanwhile, have tried to downplay Russian casualties.

According to Institute for the Study of War, the Russian army has withdrawn from the right (north/west) bank of the Dnieper River, practically abandoning a position outside the southern city of Kherson. Demoralized troops from the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic have also withdrawn from the village of Kyselivka, leaving only four vehicles, it said.

Kyselivka is strategically important for Russian forces and 15 km northwest of Kherson. The Russian soldiers defending the city have been effectively routed after Ukraine destroyed all four bridges over the wide Dnieper River. The northwestern edge of Kherson was now vulnerable to a Ukrainian counterattack, ISW wrote.