In about a week or two of their counteroffensive, during which Kyiv retook most of the Kharkiv region, Ukrainian forces have recovered more than 200 Russian vehicles that are only “lightly worn.” Ukraine now plans to use them against the weakening Russian military. This was reported by Foreign Policy magazine with reference to a Ukrainian military official.
In recent days, Russia had to cede about 5 or 6 thousand square kilometers of territory to Ukrainian soldiers. In the process, the Kremlin left behind vast Soviet-era weapons stockpiles, which the defending Ukrainians can now operate with. They only managed to seize at least 17 vehicles on Monday, September 12.
“They just left tanks, artillery, special equipment, a lot of armored vehicles there, and they were just trying to save their lives,” a Ukrainian military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Foreign Policy.
According to Ukrainian sources, the captured Russian equipment ranges from BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles to dozens of tanks, including variants of the T-80 tanks that date back to the 1980s. As poorly trained Russian troops, some drawn from the Russian National Guard and police forces, fled the front lines, Ukrainian forces received Russian equipment essentially for free, the magazine said.
According to earlier reports, fleeing REus seized any means of transport. In Izjum, they even killed a taxi driver to seize his car.
Russia fired rockets at Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine on Wednesday night, authorities there said. Ukrainian forces launched a counteroffensive in the area last week and have since liberated 8,500 square kilometers of territory and 388 villages, according to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry.
According to the mayor of Kharkiv, Ihor Terechov, Russian soldiers hit the Kyiv district, which lies to the east of the center. The rockets hit the city shortly after midnight, according to Terechov, no deaths, injuries or damage have been reported.
“The Russians attacked Kharkiv. We are in cover. All services are working,” Natalya Popova, adviser to the Kharkiv regional council, wrote on social networks, according to the Russian-language BBC server.
