Russia grip on northeast Ukraine loosens after Kyiv severs supply line

A woman rides a bike past a destroyed building in Balakliya, Kharkiv region, yesterday. (AFP)

Moscow abandoned its main bastion in northeastern Ukraine yesterday, in a sudden collapse on one of the war’s principal front lines after surging Ukrainian forces threatened to encircle the area in a shock advance.The swift fall of Izium in Kharkiv province was Moscow’s worst defeat since its troops were forced back from the capital Kyiv in March, and could prove a decisive turning point in the six-month war, with thousands of Russian soldiers abandoning ammunition stockpiles and equipment as they flee.The state-run TASS news agency quoted Russia’s defence ministry as saying it had ordered troops to leave the vicinity to reinforce operations elsewhere in neighbouring Donetsk.The head of Russia’s administration in areas in Kharkiv it controls told all residents to evacuate the province and flee to Russia to “save lives”, TASS reported. Witnesses described traffic jams of cars with people fleeing Russian-held territory.Ukrainian officials stopped short of confirming they had recaptured Izium, but President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak posted a photo of troops on its outskirts. Earlier, he tweeted an emoji of grapes. The city’s name means “raisin”.The Russian withdrawal announcement came hours after Ukrainian troops captured the city of Kupiansk further north, the sole railway hub supplying Russia’s entire frontline across northeastern Ukraine. That left thousands of Russian troops abruptly cut off from supplies across a stretch of front that has seen some of the most intense battles of the war.There were signs of trouble for Russia elsewhere along its remaining positions at the front in the east, with pro-Russian officials acknowledging difficulties at other locations and Ukrainians hinting at more advances to come.Days ago, Kyiv’s forces burst through the frontline and have since recaptured dozens of towns and villages in a swift mechanised assault, surging forward dozens of kilometres a day. Early yesterday, Ukrainian officials posted photos of their troops raising the country’s blue and yellow flag in front of city hall in Kupiansk, dealing a blow that appeared to prove decisive for Russian garrisons supplied by the city’s railways.“To achieve the stated goals of the Special Military Operation for the liberation of Donbas, it was decided to regroup the Russian troops located in the districts of Balakliia and Izium for the purpose of increasing efforts in the Donetsk direction,” TASS quoted Russia’s defence ministry as saying.Russian forces had already abandoned Balakliia days ago.In Hrakove, one of dozens of villages recaptured in the Ukrainian advance, Reuters saw burnt-out vehicles bearing the “Z” symbol of Russia’s invasion. Boxes still full of ammunition were scattered with strewn rubbish in positions the Russians had abandoned in evident haste.“Hello everyone, we are from Russia,” was spraypainted on a wall. Three bodies lay in white body bags in a yard.The regional chief of police, Volodymyr Tymoshenko, said Ukrainian police had moved in the previous day, and had checked the identities of local residents who had lived under Russian occupation since the invasion’s second day.