Zelensky visits liberated Izyum as Ukraine seeks to keep Russia on the run

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a bold visit on Wednesday to the recently liberated city of Izyum, in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region, where he participated in a flag-raising ceremony to mark the nation’s most important military victory since Russian invaders were repelled from the suburbs of Kyiv in late March.

Zelensky, striking a resolute tone, said that while Russia might temporarily occupy parts of Ukraine, “it is definitely impossible to occupy our people, the Ukrainian people.”

“The heroes are here,” Zelensky said, describing the significance of the blue-and-yellow banner. “It means that the enemy is gone, ran away.”

The swift and remarkably successful counteroffensive that liberated Izyum and towns and villages throughout the Kharkiv region, has proved to be both a crucial military victory as well as a psychological triumph, lifting national spirits, reinforcing Ukraine’s international support and sparking calls for additional weapons and equipment, in hopes of capitalizing on what seems to be a turning point in the nearly seven-month war.

Western military and intelligence analysts say Russia’s forces appear to be severely depleted, largely incapable of offensive operations to retake ground, and potentially vulnerable to further attacks. Ukraine’s military, in turn, seems intent on pressing its counteroffensive in the east and the south.

“We thank all of you for liberating our state from the enemy — from the terrorists of the Russian Federation and from the traitors who betrayed our state with the bills of artificial republics,” Zelensky said, addressing Ukrainian soldiers.

“The last few months have been extremely difficult for you. Therefore, I am asking you: Take care of yourself; you are the most precious we have,” he said.

Zelensky’s visit, appearing in army fatigues and standing in front of the city’s bombed out municipal building, was one of his many combat-zone trips that have provided a contrast between the youthful Ukrainian leader and the aging Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who calls the war a “special military operation” and has not visited his soldiers in the field.

Zelensky said Tuesday that Ukraine had recaptured just over 3,0oo square miles during offensives in the Kharkiv and Kherson regions. Zelensky’s precise territorial claims could not be verified, but the Russian Defense Ministry has acknowledge a major retreat, which it called a decision to “regroup.”

As Russia’s military is struggling in Ukraine, Moscow’s finances are coming under similar intensifying pressure. Government financial data released on Wednesday showed a dramatic drop in oil and gas revenue in August because of sanctions and lower sales of energy to Europe.

Russia’s economy has wobbled but not collapsed under Western punitive measures, performing better than expected thanks to high energy prices and aggressive state measures to shore up the ruble and avoid a currency collapse. But August revenue figures from the Ministry of Finance signaled a longer-term problem, as Moscow gradually loses its most import energy market, in Europe, and must accept discounted prices in Asia.

Russia had reduced gas supplies to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in recent months and finally cut supplies this month, in moves designed to tighten pressure on Europe and raise fears of a tough winter, as the Continent tries to wean itself off cheap Russian gas.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned Russia during her State of the European Union Speech on Wednesday for “actively manipulating our energy market.”

“They prefer to flare the gas than to deliver it,” von der Leyen said. “This market is not functioning anymore,” she added, warning that Europe faces tough months ahead as a result.

But von der Leyen, who was due to travel to Kyiv on Wednesday to meet Zelensky, said sanctions would persist, praised Ukraine’s indomitability and pledged that Europe would stand by the country. “Putin will fail, and Ukraine and Europe will prevail,” she said.

Von der Leyen insisted that Russia’s financial sector was “on life-support” thanks to sanctions and its industry was “in tatters.”

Putin insisted Monday that the West’s “economic blitzkrieg, the onslaught they were counting on, has failed, which is already obvious to everyone, and to them, too.” Russia has softened the impact of sanctions through social payments to families and pensioners and support for industry.

Still, Russia’s heavy industry, including the automobile and manufacturing sectors, has been hit hard by Western bans on the transfer of computer chips and other technology, with many Russian fabricators heavily reliant on imported parts.

A major, unstated calculation in Russia’s war on Ukraine is the Kremlin’s conviction that Moscow can shatter European Union unity on weapons supplies, sanctions and financial support for Ukraine by leveraging energy supplies this coming winter, forcing up prices.

As the Russia-Europe energy war heats up, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed warnings from European officials that Russia would suffer most from a long-term halt in gas supplies to Europe.

“Europe is not the only consumer of natural gas, nor is it the only continent that needs natural gas to sustain rapid growth,” Peskov said on Wednesday. “There are regions that, by the way, are developing at a faster pace and have much more ambitious development programs. In these regions, the demand for gas will be able to compensate for the lack of demand in the European direction,” he told reporters during a conference call.

Earlier, Austrian Economic Affairs Minister Martin Kocher told reporters that he was skeptical about a long-term cut in Russian gas supplies to Europe, saying this would put an “extreme burden” on the Russian economy. He predicted that gas prices would fall after “a difficult phase” this winter.

After Ukraine’s stunning weekend advance in the Kharkiv region, Zelensky and other top Ukrainian officials have amped up calls for Western military aid, releasing a proposal Tuesday for security guarantees from a group of Western countries, calling for a multi-decade effort involving major weapons transfers and industrial investment to reinforce Ukraine’s military against Russian aggression.

Peskov, however, said only Putin and the Russian leadership could give Kyiv real security guarantees. And he said that Ukraine’s call for security guarantees from Western countries proved it still wanted to join NATO. (Ukraine’s NATO aspirations were a main reason that Putin cited in threatening military action before the invasion.)

“Therefore, the main threat to our country persists,” Peskov said, added that this proved the “special military operation” was still necessary.

Putin has characterized the war as an existential battle for survival against NATO, and has lambasted the sanctions as a failing Western effort to weaken and destroy Russia.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Western countries could not sustain longer term military support to Ukraine, asserting that it would “incinerate them. Imagine, it is proposed to do this to states that are now thinking how to survive the winter.”

Zakharova said European citizens were suffering because of Washington’s demands, in what she called “a terrible bondage.”

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