A Ukrainian counterattack that started on Friday to the east of the town of Kharkiv has resulted in the recapture of a number of villages, in keeping with the regional administrator.
CNN has geolocated and verified a video appearing Ukrainian troops in keep watch over of Vilkhivka, one in all the settlements that is more or less 32 kilometers (20 miles) from the Russian border in Ukraine’s northeast.
Oleg Synegubov, Kharkiv regional administrator, mentioned that various villages round Malaya Rogan had been retaken by way of Ukrainian forces. The villages are more or less 20 kilometers (12 miles) from central Kharkiv, which has been just about encircled by way of Russian forces because the early weeks of the invasion.
Video presentations firefight: Further video, printed on Telegram Saturday, presentations an intense firefight between Ukrainian forces — together with individuals of the Azov Battalion — and Russian forces within the village of Vilkhivka. The Azov Battalion started as an ultra-nationalist defense force in jap Ukraine, and has since been absorbed into the Ukrainian army.
Within the video, the firefights between Russian and Ukrainian forces are noticed a number of the properties and backyards of the village. At one level, Ukrainian troops transfer towards the village faculty, the place Russian forces seem to be holed up.
The soldier who uploaded the edited the video, claimed on Telegram the battalion had killed “about 70 troops,” and commandeered various Russian army automobiles. CNN may now not verify the Russian army deaths, or the automobile captures.
Claims of Russian prisoners: The soldier additionally claimed the battalion took 27 Russian troops prisoner. Within the edited video, various it sounds as if captured Russian infantrymen are noticed blindfolded and a few are stripped of maximum in their garments.
They’re noticed within the video being stuffed into the again of vehicles and vans and pushed away by way of individuals of the battalion. Some had been obviously injured.
Ukrainian counterattacks: The good fortune of Ukrainian forces round Kharkiv has been reflected additional north, close to the town of Sumy, the place Ukrainian troops have liberated various settlements, in keeping with movies geolocated and verified by way of CNN. A separate counterattack within the south about 63 miles (103 kilometers) northwest of Mariupol additionally resulted in the liberation of 2 villages from Russian forces, in keeping with the Zaporizhzhia regional army management.
