Ukraine claims recapturing 2,000 km in northwest, as Russia admits is regrouping troops

Ukraine's president says the country's army has reclaimed around 2,000 kilometers of territory from Russian forces in Kharkiv amid reports of Russia's redeployment of its forces from the northeastern region.

"For the moment, since the beginning of September, around 2,000 kilometers has been liberated," Volodymir Zelensky said in an evening address on Saturday, adding, "There is no place in Ukraine for the occupiers. There never will be."

He did not specify whether he was talking about square kilometers, but on Thursday, the Ukrainian army's commander-in-chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said their troops had recaptured 1,000 square kilometers (nearly 400 square miles) of territory from Russian forces.

"These last days, the Russian army has shown us its best (side) -- its back," Zelensky added. "After all, it's a good choice for them to flee...There is no place in Ukraine for the occupiers. There never will be."

Ukraine's army announced a counteroffensive focusing on Kharkiv at the beginning of September.

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As early as Friday, Kiev's forces alleged scoring "major gains" there as part of the counteroffensive.

Russia began a "special military operation" in the ex-Soviet republic on February 24. Moscow said the operation was aimed at “demilitarizing” the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas, which is made up of the Donetsk and Lugansk republics.

Back in 2014, the two republics broke away from Ukraine, refusing to recognize a Western-backed Ukrainian government there that had overthrown a democratically-elected Russia-friendly administration.

Announcing the operation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the mission was “defending people who for eight years are suffering persecution and genocide by the Kiev regime.”

Ukraine demands more weapons

Also on Saturday, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the success of the counteroffensive in Kharkiv has shown that Ukraine could beat Moscow's forces, but Kiev still needs more weapons from its Western allies.

Kuleba, speaking at a news conference with visiting German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, said some allies had initially been hesitant to send weapons, citing the risk of antagonizing Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Now, thank God, we are no longer hearing this argument...we have demonstrated we are capable of defeating the Russian army. We are doing that with weapons given to us," he said.

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The Ukrainian foreign minister added, "And so I reiterate: The more weapons we receive, the faster we will win, and the faster this war will end."

Germany has already sent self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine, but Kiev also wants Leopard main battle tanks, Marder infantry fighting vehicles and Gepard anti-aircraft tanks.

Russian military explains partial withdrawal

Amid the Ukrainian Army's allegations of a Russian pullout from Khakiv, the Russian Defense Ministry said its forces there were just going through a "redeployment" process.

“In order to achieve the goals of the special military operation, a decision was made to regroup troops in the areas of Balakleya and Izyum in order to build up efforts in the Donetsk direction,” the Russian military said in a statement.

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Kupyansk was captured by Russian forces less than one week after Moscow launched its full-scale operation.

The troops stationed in the area have been redeployed over the past three days into territory belonging to the Donetsk People’s Republic, the ministry added.

During the operation, the military has performed a “number of distracting and demonstration activities imitating the real action of troops,” it noted.

In order to prevent “damage to Russian troops,” the military has been subjecting Ukrainian units in the area to “powerful” artillery, missile and aircraft attacks, the ministry said, claiming destruction of over 100 armor pieces and artillery, as well as elimination of “more than 2,000 Ukrainian and foreign fighters” in the past three days.

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