US official claims fleeing Russian troops close Kharkiv have left Ukraine

• Russia has largely ceded its gains near Kharkiv, and many of the withdrawing Russian soldiers have exited Ukraine.
• US has received anecdotal reports of Russian forces abandoning their equipment.
• This could be indicative of Russia’s disorganized command and control, a US military official said.

Russia has largely ceded its gains near Kharkiv, and many of the withdrawing Russian soldiers have exited Ukraine, crossing the border back into Russia, according to a senior US military official.

As it withdraws, the US has received anecdotal reports of Russian forces abandoning their equipment, “which could be indicative of Russia’s disorganised command and control,” a US military official said on condition of anonymity.

The remarks to reporters at the Pentagon came after a weekend of rapid gains for Ukrainian forces. Ukraine’s general staff announced that its soldiers had recaptured more than 20 towns and villages in the previous day alone, as Ukrainian forces swept deeper into territory seized from fleeing Russian troops.

When describing the Ukrainian advances, the US military official was upbeat but cautious.

“It’s clear they’re fighting hard,” the official said, citing progress in reclaiming territory in the south and east.

Ukraine said it repelled Russian advances in two key areas of the Donetsk region: Bakhmut and Maiorsk, near the coal-producing town of Horlivka, according to an evening update from the general staff.

However, a senior US military official stated that Russia was still concentrating its firepower on Bakhmut.

“We continue to see heavy use of artillery and airstrikes,” said the official, who requested anonymity.

The Russian-installed head of Moscow’s occupation administration in what remained of Russian-held territory in the Kharkiv region, Vitaly Ganchev, acknowledged that Ukrainian forces had broken through to the border.

The official did not specify how many Russian forces had left Ukrainian territory and returned to Russia, but he did describe a significant withdrawal.

“On the ground in the vicinity of Kharkiv we assess that Russian forces have largely ceded their gains to the Ukrainians and have withdrawn to the north and east. Many of these forces have moved over the border into Russia,” the official said.

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