‘We got here Mr President’: Ukrainian forces push to border with Russia after Kharkiv victory

Ukrainian forces reached the border with Russia on Monday in a move military experts said would allow them to strike at the heart of Moscow’s supply lines.

In a social media post, Ukraine’s ministry of defence said the 227th Battalion of the 127th Brigade of its military had successfully repelled Moscow’s troops out of Kharkiv and reached the frontier.

“Kharkiv suppressed the Russians and went out to the area of the state border,” it said.

It came as Western intelligence reports suggested Ukrainian counter-offensives had pushed Russian troops 15 to 30 kilometres north, east and south out of Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city.

Independent military experts said Kyiv’s forces would be able to use their new positions to hit Russian supply lines in and out of the country.

It was also claimed that the Kremlin had once again been forced to alter its invasion plans after sustaining heavy losses on the battlefield.

Oleg Synyegubov, the Kharkiv region’s governor, said a group of Ukrainian fighters had successfully reinstated a border sign on the frontier with Russia.

His post on the Telegram messaging app included a video of no fewer than 12 Ukrainian soldiers posing alongside a territorial market on the border.

“We got here Mr President,” one soldier said in a message to Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian leader. “We are here. Border guards are with us.”

The claim could not be independently verified, but analysts said the border pole had likely been placed near the village of Ternova, a settlement roughly two miles from the frontier with Russia.

In a video message posted online, Mr Zelensky praised the soldiers for their efforts.

“I’m thanking you on behalf of all Ukrainians, each and every Ukrainian, on behalf of my family," he said. "My gratitude has no boundaries. I wish all of you good health. Take care of yourself."

Mr Synyegubov said: “We thank everyone, risking their lives."

Russia preparing major new offensive

But the regional governor warned that Moscow was preparing a major new offensive to secure its supply lines into the eastern Donbas region.

“The Kharkiv regional defence forces continue to hold their ground and carry out successful counter-offensive,” he added.

“Troops of the armed forces of Ukraine reached the state border in the north of the Kharkiv region.

“The enemy is trying to focus most of its efforts on maintaining its positions and is preparing an offensive in the area of Izyum.”

For Russia, Izyum is seen as a strategically vital area to control in its effort to seize full control of the Donbas.

Through the region, south-east of Kharkiv, there is a highway from Belgorod, Moscow’s main logistics hub, some 25 miles inside its own borders, to Ukraine’s main industrial region.

Recapturing Kharkiv is seen as a major coup for Ukraine’s armed forces, as it will enable them to launch further counter-attacks on Russian supply lines as the conflict drags on.

A report published by military analysts Rochan Consulting said Ukraine would be able to directly target Belgorod with artillery fire, as well as other routes used by Russia to replenish its battle-stricken forces.

“Through its artillery means, Kyiv’s forces will be able to strike Russian positions near Belgorod, its logistics centres, restoration bases and concentration areas,” the report said.

“Concurrently, Ukrainians will be able to hit Russian logistics lines coming through Vovenchansk, thus degrading Russian ability to supply its units around Izyum from Belgorod.”

Ukraine said on Monday its troops had already managed to destroy a Russian weapons depot in Izyum.

“Defence forces fired on enemy depots stationed in the town of Izyum, destroying a significant stockpile of ammunition,” Ukraine’s General Staff said.

The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think-tank, said Russia’s depleted forces appeared to have abandoned “a large-scale encirclement” of Ukrainian units in part of Donbas.

Its assessment said Moscow had seemingly given up on holding a chunk of territory between the cities of Donetsk and Izyum, in favour of seizing control of the Luhansk region to the north-east.

Recent updates by Western intelligence officials have outlined Russia’s struggles to make serious territorial gains since Moscow shifted its objectives to capturing the industrial Donbas region.

A military source told The Telegraph that Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, and General Valery Gerasimov, the head of Russia’s armed forces, had been interfering in low-level tactical decisions during the ongoing battle in the Donbas.

“We think Putin and Gerasimov are involved in tactical decision-making at a level we would normally expect to be taken by a colonel or a brigadier,” the source said.

Russia ‘throwing in’ untrained civilians to battle

There was mounting anger on Monday over the use of conscripts by Moscow across the two pro-Russian breakaway regions of Donbas.

Dozens of women were filmed accusing a top official in Luhansk of “throwing in” untrained residents into the battle against Ukraine’s military.

The men were reportedly drafted in the first weeks after Putin’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine and had no previous military experience or training.

“You, your government, sent them out for slaughter,” one of the women said.

Britain’s Ministry of Defence said on Monday that Belarus was deploying troops near its border with Ukraine to prevent Kyiv from further reinforcing its counter-offensives elsewhere.

“Belarusian President Lukashenko is likely balancing support for Russia’s invasion with a desire to avoid direct military participation with the risk of Western sanctions, Ukrainian retaliation and possible dissatisfaction in the Belarusian military,” the MoD said.

Ukraine’s military suggested that as many as 2,500 Russian reservists were being trained to bolster their forces in Ukraine.

Mykhaylo Podolyak, an adviser to Mr Zelensky, said Ukraine could defeat Russia by the end of the year - but needed more heavy weapons from the West and a “real oil embargo” on Russian exports.

Speaking before meeting his EU counterparts, Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian foreign minister, accused European governments of funding the Kremlin’s war machine with their purchases of Russian fossil fuels.

“I would like to remind you that every day European countries continue paying millions of euros to Russia for gas and oil, it’s exactly this money that is being used to finance the Russian war machine,” he told reporters in Brussels.

Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, announced the bloc would finance another €500 million in weapons for Ukraine, taking its total contribution to €2 billion.