Some of the Russian forces driven out of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region have fled back across the border, although the elite tank regiment tasked to carry out the first strike against Nato and defend Moscow has stopped its retreat at Donetsk. The Kremlin’s main stronghold in the northwest has fallen, the route to Donbas reclaimed by Ukraine.
The Russian troops left in the eastern and southern front in Ukraine are battered, “degraded” in military parlance, and morale is low. The sweeping gains made by Ukrainian forces have led to more than 6,000 square kilometres (2,300 square miles) of territory being recovered in 12 days – four times the size of Greater London or bigger than Denmark, according to various comparisons.
