As the Russian Army retreats from Kharkiv, a town north is ‘captured’!

New Delhi: In the last 24 hours, CNN and the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) have both announced a likely Ukrainian victory in the vital eastern city of Kharkiv, with Russia allegedly retreating completely.

‘Ukraine’s General Staff claimed Friday that Russian forces ‘did not launch offensive actions in the Kharkiv direction. The primary efforts were aimed at keeping our soldiers from advancing in the ‘vicinity of Vesele’, another community less than an hour’s drive from Staryi Saltiv under normal circumstances. The Ukrainians have retaken a number of settlements in this area east of Kharkiv,’ CNN said.

‘The Russian command is also likely to prioritize the departure of Russian forces above that of its proxies. A Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) serviceman alleged that the Russian border patrol on the Ukrainian-Russian border along the route to Belgorod refused to admit his battalion, which had been evacuated from near Kharkiv City, enter Russia for two days,’ the ISW said, citing a series of tweets.

However, the districts near Luhansk, north of Donetsk, and in Mariupol remained the most intensive combat zones on Friday, with Ukraine’s evacuation operations at Mariupol allegedly still underway. An independent war mapper has also stated that Russia has conquered Oleksandropillia, a tiny village north of Popasana located 100 kilometers west of Luhansk near the border with Donetsk Oblast.