Ukrainian troops successfully suppressed their swift counter-offensive in the northeastern part of the country on Sunday, forcing Russian units to withdraw.
Ukraine's swift move to recapture Russian-held territory in the northeastern Kharkiv region has forced Moscow's forces to retreat to avoid being encircled and leave behind significant numbers of weapons and munitions in a hasty retreat as the war marked 200 days on Sunday.
"These days, the Russian army is doing its best to show its back," exultant Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky mocked the Russians in a video address over the weekend.
Ukraine's military chief, General Valery Zlozny, said on Sunday that Ukraine had liberated about 3,000 square kilometers of territory since the beginning of September.
Earlier on Saturday, Ukrainian officials said their eastern retaliation had caught Russia by surprise as Moscow moved several of its units south, believing that most of Kyiv's forces were moving towards the key southern city of Kherson
