As of 16 September, almost the entire Kharkiv Region has been de-occupied, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
“Today, almost the entire Kharkiv Region has been de-occupied. This was an unprecedented movement by our warriors. The Ukrainians have again managed to do what many thought was impossible,” the statement said.
The president added that the russian army had been in Kharkiv Region for over five months. During this time, the occupiers did not even try to do something for people, on the contrary, they were destroying, taking everything away, and smuggling it out of the region.
“They left devastated villages behind them, and in some of them, there is not a single undamaged house. russia cannot bring anything but genocide,” the president summed up.
Secretary of the National Security and Defenсe Council Oleksiy Danilov said that during the offensive operations of the Ukrainian army in Kharkiv Region, the russian military are suffering much greater losses. Although, from the point of view of the laws of war, the occupiers are in a better position because they are on the defensive.