Ukraine war: Zelenskyy says 6,000 square kilometers liberated from Russians
Ukrainian President Volodymyyr Zelenskyy says his country's forces have now captured more than 6,000 square kilometers in in a lightning advance that forced Moscow to make a hasty retreat.
The Ukrainians say they've also captured so many Russian prisoners of war that they're running out of space to accommodate them, as troops were surrendering en masse as "they understand the hopelessness of their situation," said a spokesperson for Ukrainian military intelligence.
In a late night video address, President Zelenskyy said "since the beginning of September, our soldiers have already liberated 6,000 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory in the east and south, and we are continuing to advance."
That's an increase from Sunday's figures when Kyiv claimed only 3,000 square kilometers had been retaken.
Blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flags fluttered over newly liberated towns across a wide swath of reclaimed land. The Ukrainian military said it had freed more than 20 settlements in 24 hours.
Now Ukrainian teams are disarming land mines and other unexploded weapons in the recaptured areas and searching for any remaining Russian troops, officials said.
It was not yet clear if the Ukrainian blitz could signal a turning point in the war. Momentum has switched back and forth before, but rarely with such a big and sudden swing.
After months of little discernible movement on the battlefield, the momentum has lifted Ukrainian morale and provoked rare public criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war.
The counteroffensive left the Kremlin struggling for a response to its largest military defeat in Ukraine since Russian forces pulled back from areas near Kyiv after a botched attempt to capture the capital early in the invasion.
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