Ukraine troops recover more territory as Russians retreat

 Reuters:

Ukraine said its troops have marched farther east into territory recently abandoned by Russia, paving the way for a potential assault on Moscow's occupation forces in the Donbas region as Kyiv seeks more Western arms.

In a sign of nervousness from a Moscow-backed administration in Donbas about the success of Ukraine's recent offensive, its leader called for urgent referendums on the region becoming part of Russia.

"The occupiers are clearly in a panic," Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a televised address late on Monday, adding that he was now focused on "speed" in liberated areas.

"The speed at which our troops are moving. The speed in restoring normal life," Zelenskiy said.

The Ukrainian leader also hinted he would use a video address to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday to call on countries to accelerate weapons and aid deliveries.

"We are doing everything to ensure Ukraine's needs are met at all levels - defence, financial, economic, diplomatic," Zelenskiy said.

Serhiy Gaidai, Ukrainian governor of Luhansk, a province in the Donbas now under control of Russian troops, said Ukraine's armed forces had regained complete control of the Luhansk village of Bilohorivka and were preparing to fight to retake the entire province.

"There will be fighting for every centimetre," Gaidai wrote on Telegram. "The enemy is preparing their defence. So we will not simply march in."

In another important milestone for the counter-offensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region, Ukraine's armed forces said troops had crossed the Oskil River over the weekend. The river flows south into the Siversky Donets, which snakes through the Donbas, the main focus of Russia's invasion.

Further beyond lies Luhansk, a base for Russia's separatist proxies since 2014 and fully in Russian hands since July after some of the war's bloodiest battles.
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There is more.

Ukraine is still working on uncovering all the aspects of the Russian occupation of the area and potential war crimes.  What should be clear is that Russia's claims that the people in this area wanted to be part of Russia is bogus.