The Ukrainian army has regained control of the strategic highway connecting the cities of Kharkiv and Chuguev in eastern Ukraine, AFP journalists reported.
“The road was under fire from Russian troops who were killing civilians there. We pushed them ten kilometers north,” the commander of the 92nd Brigade of the Ukrainian Army told AFP.
The strategic highway recaptured today connects Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, and Chuguev, a city of 30,000 people 50 kilometers southwest. Both cities have been under heavy shelling by the Russian army for more than a month, but have not fallen into the hands of Moscow’s troops.
A few kilometers from the eastern outskirts of Kharkiv, along the four-lane road, the remains of cars scattered with bullets are scattered, and the corpse of a Russian soldier can be seen on the side of the highway. This morning the situation there was calm, according to AFP journalists. The excavator began to clear, and a man from a nearby village came to pick up his car, which showed bullet holes.
Russian corpses were scattered everywhere, a Ukrainian intelligence officer told AFP. The fighting was very heavy, sometimes at a distance of 10 meters. It lasted for three days, he added.
“Russian soldiers were exhausted, especially young people who were starving and looting homes,” the Ukrainian officer said. He estimates that 120 Russian soldiers have been stationed in the area in recent days, 40 of whom have been taken prisoner.
In the nearby village of Mala Rohan, ambulances began packing in plastic bags, and locals are leaving their homes to repair cars and clean up rubbish.