While Kherson has been the focus of major fighting for a couple weeks now, the push from Kharkiv has unfolded over the past couple days, with what appears to be lightning speed.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says Ukrainian forces are showing signs of battlefield successes in two counteroffensives and that the United States will support Kyiv in its battle against invading Russian troops “as long as it’s needed.”
Austin’s comments in Prague on September 9 follow mounting evidence that Ukrainian troops have made advances in the southern Kherson region and in districts east and southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Radio Free Europe reports.
While Kherson has been the focus of major fighting for a couple weeks now, the push from Kharkiv has unfolded over the past couple days, with what appears to be lightning speed.
“We see success in Kherson now,” Austin told reporters in Prague after meeting with his Czech counterpart, Jana Cernochova.
“We see some success in Kharkiv and so that is very encouraging,” he added.
In his nightly video address on September 8, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy claimed that Ukrainian troops had “liberated dozens of settlements” and reclaimed more than 1,000 square kilometers from Russian forces in the past week.
Russian officials have said nothing about either front, or Ukrainian successes, though pro-Russian military bloggers have for days been documenting major movements in battle lines in both places.
But on September 9, the Russian-appointed administrator for Kharkiv occupied regions told Rossia-24 TV that Ukrainian officials had made a “substantial victory” in the eastern region.
“The situation is rather serious now,” Vitaliy Hanchev said. “The very fact there was a breach of our defenses is already a substantial victory for the Ukrainian armed forces.”
On September 8, U.S. officials announced another $675 million package in weaponry to Ukraine along with a $2 billion pledge made the same day for strengthening security across Europe, bringing the total amount of military supplies sent to Kyiv to more than $15.2 billion since the Russian invasion on February 24.
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