Belogorovka is the latest prize in Ukraine’s ongoing counteroffensive to drive Russia away from Kharkiv’s second city. The village is just a dozen or so miles from the cities of Lysychansk and Severdonestsk, key regional economic centers in the greater Donbas region that the Kremlin has vowed to defend at all costs. The village is also 45 miles east of the Oskil River, where Russian forces fled after a Ukrainian offensive around Kharkiv recaptured an area the size of Devon in a matter of days. Serhiy Gaidai, the Ukrainian leader of Luhansk, said Ukrainian soldiers were now in “full control” of Belogorovka. “We must all be patient in anticipation of a large-scale takeover of the Luhansk region,” he said. Luhansk and neighboring Donetsk rebelled against Ukraine in 2014 and fought to create pro-Russian pseudo-states. The Kremlin used their defense as an excuse to launch its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February. But now, armed with high-tech Western weaponry, top US intelligence and high morale, Ukrainian forces have vowed to retake all of Luhansk. That would be yet another humiliation for Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, whose forces had celebrated pushing Ukrainian forces out of Luhansk in early July. Built on Russia’s massive artillery advantage, their attack was fierce and devastating. However, Ukrainian forces had retreated, regrouped and planned a massive counterattack based on a deception that caught Russia’s depleted forces off guard. When Ukrainian forces attacked the area around Kharkiv two weeks ago, Russia’s weak defensive line collapsed and its soldiers fled. Ukraine’s defense ministry has now released photos of a T90-M main battle tank, the most advanced in the Russian military, which was abandoned by Russian soldiers.
