Berliner Boersenzeitung - Ukraine offensive defies Russia's annexation plan

EUR -
AED 4.322015
AFN 82.214801
ALL 97.829687
AMD 452.486126
ANG 2.106133
AOA 1079.178973
ARS 1450.462021
AUD 1.804832
AWG 2.121288
AZN 1.995996
BAM 1.953996
BBD 2.375907
BDT 144.346744
BGN 1.95398
BHD 0.44369
BIF 3505.638193
BMD 1.176859
BND 1.498648
BOB 8.131493
BRL 6.380812
BSD 1.176714
BTN 100.425145
BWP 15.585612
BYN 3.850845
BYR 23066.427915
BZD 2.363618
CAD 1.603593
CDF 3395.237477
CHF 0.935197
CLF 0.028536
CLP 1095.05973
CNY 8.432662
CNH 8.441134
COP 4709.376085
CRC 594.251409
CUC 1.176859
CUP 31.186752
CVE 110.164704
CZK 24.637887
DJF 209.536563
DKK 7.461319
DOP 70.424986
DZD 151.961006
EGP 58.019246
ERN 17.652879
ETB 163.306554
FJD 2.635223
FKP 0.862232
GBP 0.863614
GEL 3.201151
GGP 0.862232
GHS 12.178757
GIP 0.862232
GMD 84.147776
GNF 10205.665222
GTQ 9.047724
GYD 246.182733
HKD 9.238146
HNL 30.743358
HRK 7.534011
HTG 154.500653
HUF 398.778532
IDR 19108.652554
ILS 3.941536
IMP 0.862232
INR 100.695194
IQD 1541.463879
IRR 49575.166917
ISK 142.399583
JEP 0.862232
JMD 187.816615
JOD 0.834434
JPY 170.397935
KES 152.026299
KGS 102.916228
KHR 4727.71589
KMF 491.926539
KPW 1059.172417
KRW 1609.114612
KWD 0.359283
KYD 0.980686
KZT 611.110652
LAK 25356.59172
LBP 105432.468591
LKR 353.044083
LRD 235.934199
LSL 20.698792
LTL 3.474957
LVL 0.71187
LYD 6.338149
MAD 10.56175
MDL 19.821701
MGA 5295.111746
MKD 61.478246
MMK 2470.863045
MNT 4217.390708
MOP 9.514136
MRU 46.702886
MUR 52.899816
MVR 18.117969
MWK 2040.51627
MXN 21.946794
MYR 4.982781
MZN 75.27194
NAD 20.698616
NGN 1800.264346
NIO 43.300395
NOK 11.879622
NPR 160.677303
NZD 1.953144
OMR 0.451623
PAB 1.176714
PEN 4.172566
PGK 4.860554
PHP 66.665478
PKR 334.03603
PLN 4.244277
PYG 9377.343179
QAR 4.300784
RON 5.05849
RSD 117.07093
RUB 92.851465
RWF 1691.538433
SAR 4.41369
SBD 9.811381
SCR 16.606629
SDG 706.710603
SEK 11.270922
SGD 1.501619
SHP 0.924826
SLE 26.420386
SLL 24678.140035
SOS 672.479192
SRD 43.996894
STD 24358.596271
SVC 10.296407
SYP 15301.428614
SZL 20.682906
THB 38.300276
TJS 11.443533
TMT 4.130774
TND 3.428464
TOP 2.756322
TRY 47.032918
TTD 7.980565
TWD 34.167267
TZS 3106.906389
UAH 49.074696
UGX 4221.103231
USD 1.176859
UYU 47.226803
UZS 14776.359004
VES 128.834826
VND 30772.497813
VUV 139.373498
WST 3.050427
XAF 655.352003
XAG 0.032047
XAU 0.000355
XCD 3.180519
XDR 0.815048
XOF 655.352003
XPF 119.331742
YER 284.97608
ZAR 20.836927
ZMK 10593.143581
ZMW 28.505685
ZWL 378.947978
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Ukraine offensive defies Russia's annexation plan
Ukraine offensive defies Russia's annexation plan / Photo: Yasuyoshi CHIBA - AFP

Ukraine offensive defies Russia's annexation plan

As Russia prepares to annex four Ukrainian regions, Kyiv's forces are finishing the job of driving Moscow's retreating troops out of a fifth and threatening their foe's supply lines.

Text size:

On Friday, the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia will be incorporated into Russia in a Kremlin ceremony that will be rejected by most international capitals.

But the Kharkiv region, an early target of Moscow's February 24 invasion and home to Ukraine's largely Russian-speaking second city, will not feature in the event, after a stunning counteroffensive.

On Thursday, Ukrainian tanks and armoured personnel carriers were manoeuvring freely through the industrial town of Kupiansk in the east of the Kharkiv region, once a key Russian supply hub.

Kupiansk hosts a severely-damaged bridge across the Oskil river, a natural barrier that the retreating Russians had attempted to hold, and a rail line once used to supply the occupation forces.

"This is a major railway hub that connect to the Luhansk region and then onto the Russian railway system," said Kupiansk's new Ukrainian military administrator Andriy Kanashevych.

"So obviously, in terms of logistics and in terms of supply, it was important for them to control it," he said.

Russian forces did try to hold Kupiansk, despite the collapse of their front outside Kharkiv city and their catastrophic retreat across northeastern Ukraine, leaving wrecked tanks in their wake.

- 'Car for his mother' -

On September 19 the west bank of the Oskil was in Ukrainian hands, but an artillery duel was under way and the built-up areas on the east bank were still fiercely disputed.

On Thursday, for the first time, the town was secure enough for the fire brigade and civilian volunteers to pass food packages hand-to-hand over the shattered ruins of the bridge.

A single corpse in Russian fatigues lay by the eastern end of the span under a cloud of flies, as medics carried sick and wounded civilians back towards the west on stretchers.

"That's a Lada Kalina for his mother," one of the Ukrainian volunteers joked about the corpse, referring to reports Russia is compensating the families of slain servicemen with new cars.

The road deck of the bridge has collapsed into the river and only the pedestrian footpath along the side is passable for troops and civilian refugees crossing between the banks.

Two dozen men are needed to pass the 2,000 British-supplied ration boxes across the gap to be loaded into a truck for distribution to the most recently liberated areas on the east bank.

Despite the damage to the town centre bridge, Ukrainian forces have found an alternative way to move heavy vehicles, including tanks and Western supplied APCs to the east side.

The tanks have fanned out, backed by infantry and -- despite the occasional incoming shell -- have secured a large urban area, including places that had been occupied for seven months.

The battle knocked out water and electricity and many civilians have left, leaving Kupiansk with around 10 to 15 percent of its pre-war population of 27,000, according to Kanashevych's estimate.

As late as Tuesday there were still Russian forces in the industrial district of Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi, five kilometres (three miles) south of the bridge -- and civilians are only to starting to leave.

"It was really tough, really tough. We were terrified... with no water, no electricity, no gas, no mobile connection," said Ludmyla Nagaytseva, 52, as families cooked in the open.

"There was no way. Only today we managed to catch a weak signal."

On Thursday, a Ukrainian armoured personnel carrier and infantry platoon stood guard in front of the district cultural centre as local residents boarded buses to take them to the bridge.

- 'Like prison' -

One old man staggered out of the building shouting and gripping the left side of his chest. As his knees buckled and he collapsed to the ground, the troops' medic rushed to administer first aid.

The speed with which Kupiansk fell in the first days of the February invasion fed suspicions that the area's Russian-speaking population harbours divided loyalties between Kyiv and Moscow.

Most local people encountered by AFP seemed relieved to be liberated by Ukraine, and some were overjoyed. One man, 30-year-old business owner Maksim Korolevsky, said the town had been betrayed.

"On February 24, a lot of people, about 200 or so local guys, came to the enlistment centre to fight for Ukraine," he told AFP, blaming the town's former pro-Russian mayor, Gennadiy Matsegora.

"But on February 25, Russian APCs with Russian flags and Russian soldiers were in front of the place. What could we do? We couldn't do anything," he said, complaining of harassment and searches.

"Every pro-Ukrainian opinion was punished by Russia," he said. "Seven months under occupation, it was just like being in prison."

The Russian flags and soldiers have gone from Kupiansk now, but the invasion's notorious "Z" symbol is still visible -- painted onto wrecked military vehicles and bullet-riddled civilian vans.

Beside two of the cars lie bloated corpses in military boots.

(T.Burkhard--BBZ)