KRAMATORSK, Ukraine (AFP) – Ukraine forces said Monday their lightning counter-offensive took back more ground in the past 24 hours, as Russia replied with strikes on some of the recaptured ground.
The territorial shifts were one of Russia’s biggest reversals since its forces were turned back from Kyiv in the earliest days of the nearly seven months of fighting, yet Moscow signaled it was no closer to agreeing a negotiated peace.
“Ukraine has turned the tide in its favor, but the current counter-offensive will not end the war,” U.S. think tank Institute for the Study of War tweeted.
Moscow announced air, rocket and artillery attacks on reclaimed areas in the Kharkiv region on Monday, a day after Kyiv said Russian strikes on electricity infrastructure caused power failures.
The retaliatory fire came as Ukraine said forces had recaptured more than 20 additional settlements, claiming “Russian troops are hastily abandoning their positions and fleeing”.
Kyiv had already announced the recapture of the strategic city of Izyum in the country’s east, one of a series of victories claimed against Russia’s army.
Ukraine said on Monday its forces recaptured 500 square kilometers (193 square miles) in the southern Kherson region which were in addition to the huge gains in the east over the weekend.
Moscow conceded having lost territory, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saw no prospects for negotiations.
“The special military operation continues and will continue until the objectives that were originally set are achieved,” he added, using Russia’s terminology for the internationally condemned war.
Eastern parts of Ukraine were hit with widespread electricity blackouts on Sunday evening, which President Volodymyr Zelensky said deliberately hit civilian infrastructure. He blamed “Russian terrorists”.
“A total blackout in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, a partial one in the Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions,” Zelensky said in a statement on social media.
Local Ukrainian authorities pointed to Russian strikes on their power infrastructure, but some districts reported later that power had been restored.