Russian Forces Have Retreated from Izium in Ukraine

Ukrainian forces have forced Russian soldiers to withdraw from Izium, the city’s mayor has announced.

Russia’s forces sieged Izium nearly six months ago, and now the country has confirmed that all forces have now been pulled from the northeastern Ukrainian city. The new Ukrainian stronghold marks more rapid expansion into the northeast, a foray into the beginning of a new phase in the ongoing war.

Yesterday, Nextbigfuture had predicted that Ukraine would take Izium before the end of the month, but the Russian collapse has been more sudden than even I expected.

Institute for the study of War reports:
Ukrainian forces have captured an estimated 2,500 square kilometers in Kharkiv Oblast in the Kharkiv area counteroffensive as of September 9. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhnyi stated on September 8 that Ukrainian forces liberated over 1,000 square kilometers between September 1-8 – a day before Ukrainian forces reached the southern approach to Kupyansk and the Oskil River on September 9. Ukrainian forces are likely clearing pockets of disorganized Russian forces caught in the rapid Ukrainian advance to Kupyansk, Izyum, and the Oskil River, given the influx of observed pictures of Russian prisoners of war in the past 48 hours.

The hasty retreat likely means Ukraine has captured a lot of ammo, supplies and weapons.

The Kremlin is rushing resources to the Kharkiv City-Izyum line in an attempt to halt Ukrainian advances after Ukrainian forces achieved remarkable operational surprise. The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) and Kremlin wires published footage of Russian military convoys reportedly en route to reinforce Kupyansk, Izyum, and the general Kharkiv direction but did not acknowledge Ukrainian successes in the area.

The Russian collapse in the East will also make it more difficult to get the forces and resources to defend Kherson.

15 thoughts on “Russian Forces Have Retreated from Izium in Ukraine”

  1. Geez. What the Russians have done they have managed to do in such an incompetent, chaotic manner that I doubt they will attempt any offensive military action for decades to come. I think this makes the Chechyan Wars minor by comparison

  2. Watch the video from 2:14 to 2:30 to get a sense of the chaos in the Russian ranks.

    Not good for Russia. Losing lots of men and equipment.

  3. I thought Putin said this was a simple police action to do some simple denazification. How could something so simple have revealed the rot of the Russian military caused by Putin and his rich oligarchs? Perhaps underpaid and poorly trained Russian soldiers don’t wish to die for the imperial ambitions of Putin the Puny? Maybe that is why they are donating Russian tanks and ammunition to their Ukrainian brothers and sisters as they flee Putin’s mess. I’m just spit balling here, but I think Russia should sh*tcan Putin and then later try and join NATO. That big border with China could be a problem.

    • Not sure if China would ever attempt to take Russia, but it’s possible. Depends on CCP leadership. I doubt China has an appetite for that kind of war. It’s easier to conduct diplomacy. Then again, the easy route doesn’t always seem appetizing to leaders.

      I still think Ukraine wins this war in the end, and I think it leads to the downfall of Putin and leaders there who think like him.

      • Charitably speaking the best outcome for the US would be that Russia’s military and economy are so badly degraded that they can’t do much for a decade or two.

        Then again the world economy is doing poorly so get ready for a rough 2 year recession.

      • China has a modern military as well as nukes. Russia is on a ventilator. Lots of room to expand if you head north.

        • You are kidding yourself if you think China’s military is in any way modern. Russia, technically had one. And, go figure, a lot of China’s hardware is either directly Russian or derivative.

          • And you are kidding yourself if you are not aware that China has greatly modernized its military. Maybe you know more than are military leaders, but I doubt it. China, not Russia, is are closest rival. And as China suffers climate change, Siberia is going to look very attractive.

            • John, China’s tech is mostly based upon Russian military designs.

              And we just got proof of how poorly it does against the west.

              And we also know the Chinese military also suffers from similar levels of corruption.

              They are Paper tigers, nuclear paper tigers.

              • China is so much of a paper tiger that Taiwan is preparing for invasion and our Navy could be at risk to China’s new and numerically superior navy. You, but not our military, takes China’s military very seriously. But hey, sit in your easy chair and speculate freely!

        • The problem with fighting for land to expand an empire is that you need to have people to do something with it to make the endeavour profitable. China is having a hard time attracting peasants from the west of their country to provide continuing levels of cheap labour that they are dependent on in the east. Relocating them to conquered Siberia is going to be even less popular.

          • Also, the Russians had literally centuries to turn their far east into anything other than a handful of widely separated mines and logging camps.
            I suspect that it’s actually really difficult to do.

      • I think it is not unlikely that the Russian federation starts to splinter. The worst affected parts of the war in Ukraine is not Muscovy; it is far flung places which barely have running water and still use outdoor toilets. If they come to understand that the russian propaganda is BS and the federation so weak they are better off going it alone they may start to splinter off. China surely will try to intice them to join; but I don’t think they will fight the Russian federation in a war.

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