Russia’s Defence Ministry: retreat from Kharkiv region ‘regrouping in order to liberate Donbass’

Russia’s Defence Ministry has announced that it has regrouped its troops in the vicinity of Balaklia and Izium in order to fulfil the objectives of the “special military operation”, i.e. “liberate Donbass,'' says the ministry’s website.

“We have executed an operation on regrouping our forces from the Kharkiv oblast to the territory of the DPR,” reads the statement. “What we did was distracting moves. In only three days we have managed to wipe out over 2,000 Ukrainian and foreign fighters, as well as more than 100 artillery and armoured vehicles.”

Denis Bezsonov, a representative of “DPR”, reported earlier that Russia’s army had left the city of Izium and other settlements of the Kharkiv direction. “Without a doubt it’s bad news. Of course it’s all due to mistakes by our top brass. Please do not look for any hidden meaning behind this. There was no dirty deal or betrayal, we’re simply doing the best we can,” he wrote on Telegram.