Western defense officials and analysts say Ukrainian forces have punched through Russian front lines south of the country’s second-largest city, taking thousands of square miles of territory and threatening to cut off Russian supply lines.
Ukraine’s military has not yet acknowledged entering the city, though it comes amid a several days of apparent gains by the Ukrainians south of Kharkiv.
The same report said that Ukrainian forces “may collapse Russian positions around Izyum if they sever Russian ground lines of communication” north and south of the town. Officials in Kyiv have for weeks been tight-lipped about their plans for a counter-offensive to retake territory overrun by Russia early in the war, calling on local residents to refrain from sharing information on social media for fear of compromising the ongoing operation.Moscow did not immediately acknowledge or comment on the claims by Ukraine and its Western allies.
The regional governor, Oleh Syniehubov, also accused Moscow of pummeling settlements retaken by Kyiv in its recent advances, along with other residential areas in the region.
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