Ukraine Launches Stunning Counteroffensive as War Hits 200-Day Mark

Ukraine’s northeast counteroffensive has pushed Russians back to the border as the war hit the 200-day mark on Sunday.

Ukraine’s northeast counteroffensive has pushed Russians back to the border as the war hit the 200-day mark on Sunday.

Ukrainian forces launched the counterattack in the last days of August by telegraphing an attack on Kherson in the south. After Russia redirected forces south, Ukraine launched an additional offensive in the northeast near Kharkiv that’s so far been incredibly successful.
In the northeast, Ukrainian forces claimed to have recaptured more than 3,000 square kilometers of territory as well as several major rail hubs.
The lightning attack has pushed Russian forces back to the border in some areas and put Ukrainian forces within reach of territories seized by Russia in 2014.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s office insisted the “special military operation” was continuing as planned even as Russia appears to be facing “one of its worst defeats in nearly seven months of war.”
However, a top Russian occupation official admitted that Russian army forces had been outnumbered by nearly 8-to-1 in the northeast. Ukraine claims to have retaken 20 villages in the last 24 hours alone.

Per CNN, 18 deputies from Moscow and St. Petersburg have anonymously called for Putin’s resignation and wrote they “believe that the actions of [Putin] are detrimental to Russia’s and its citizens’ future” in a small but notable sign of resistance within Putin’s own government.
The Washington Post interviewed locals in newly liberated Ukrainian villages who described watching hundreds of Russian soldiers fleeing ahead of the Ukrainian advance, abandoning their rifles and ammunition.
The New York Times reported the counterattack has created “a new kind of political challenge for President Vladimir Putin” by poking holes in the aura of strength of confidence he’s built up over two decades in power.

The Wall Street Journal reported Russia withdrew more forces from the northeast on Monday as the invader has been forced to “give priority to defensive actions across the front line” in the Russian-held east and south in the face of the Ukrainian counterattack.
The Washington Examiner surveyed military experts on Ukraine’s “stunning military advances over the past 72 hours.” One expert believes “Ukraine has launched the greatest counteroffensive since World War II… they have achieved the unachievable.”
The Telegraph reported Putin has fired the top general leading Russian forces in the eastern Donbas region after barely two weeks on the job.

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