Counteroffensive

Three determining factors will play an outsized role in Ukraine’s future: support from America and European partners, the risks that Putin is willing to take, and the conflicting definitions of what victory might look like.

“This is moment X. Right now everything is happening in a way that it feels inevitable,”

In his angry west-bashing speech on Friday, delivered before Russia’s supine government, Putin had declared that Donetsk province which includes Lyman would be officially incorporated into the Russian federation.

Putin’s high-stakes strategy to boost support at home for his war appeared to be unravelling.

Ukrainian authorities say there could be more grave sites and that their investigation into events in Izium under Russian occupation is just beginning.

The lightning offensive comes as Ukrainian troops are also trying to liberate territory in the south

On Monday night Zelenskiy denounced Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure in retaliation for the recent gains in Kharkiv, calling them “a sign of the desperation of those who invented this war.

On Sunday, for the first time since the war began, Russian cruise missile strikes on a Kharkiv power station led to a blackout across the region.