Ukraine says Russian forces have retreated from Luhansk’s Kreminna
Lviv/Moscow Sep 13 (EFE).- Russian troops have withdrawn from the town of Kreminna in the eastern region of Luhansk, regional authorities reported Tuesday.
“Today, Kreminna is completely empty – the Russian army has left the city. The Ukrainian flag raised by the partisans flies there,” regional governor Serhiy Haidai said, according to media outlets.
Haidai pointed out that Ukrainian regular forces have yet to enter the town, adding the situation is similar in Starobilsk.
“The large-scale de-occupation of the Luhansk region will begin with Kreminna and Svatove,” he continued. Svatove, located some 50 km north of Luhansk is still under Russian control.
Kreminna was captured by the Russians on April 18 and was the starting point of the major offensive that saw Russia gain control of most of the cities in the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.
The town, which had about 20,000 inhabitants before the start of the February 24 invasion, is 25 km northwest of Severodonetsk, which was seized after a month of heavy fighting in June.
On Monday, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the counteroffensive his country had launched at the end of August had resulted in the liberation of more than 6,000 square km of the Russian-held territories in the east and south of the country.
Russia, meanwhile, said Tuesday that its missile troops and artillery had targeted units of the Ukrainian army in all directions, including the east and the south.
Temporary Ukrainian deployment points in Donetsk’s towns of Sloviansk, Kostiantynivka, Bakhmut and Kurdyumova have been struck, Russian defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.
He added that forces were also hit in Mykolaiv’s Bereznehuvate and Murakhivka, Zaporizhzhia’s Balabyne and eastern Kharkiv.
These attacks have resulted in the death and injury of over 800 Ukrainians, according to Konashenkov.EFE
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