Day 199 of the Invasion of Ukraine: Ukrainians have Liberated 30 Settlements in the Kharkiv Region

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Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

President Zelensky: The Ukrainian army liberated 30 settlements in the Kharkiv region

The units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have liberated 30 settlements in the Kharkiv counter-offensive operation, announced President Volodymyr Zelensky in his daily televised address to the people of Ukraine on Friday evening. Also last night, the US for the first time called the military actions of the Ukrainian army in the south a counteroffensive.

Before commenting on the military successes of the VSU (Ukrainian Armed Forces), Zelensky for the second time in a week commented on the operational silence on issues related to the ongoing counteroffensive.

"I now want to appeal again to some bloggers who are sometimes in a hurry to report the results of some active actions of our soldiers at the front... Please do not rush the messages, do not complicate the task of our army with howling haste. Please do not announce specific details about the defense operation before the official representatives of our country say them," Zelensky urged.

For the first time, the hermeticity of information in the Ukrainian media and the Ukrainian segment of social networks was reduced to such a level that Ukrainians found out about the first successes in the Kharkiv direction from publications in Russian sources.

"The Armed Forces of Ukraine liberated and took control of 30 settlements in the Kharkiv region. In some of the settlements in the region, the measures to check and secure the territory continue, we are gradually taking control of new settlements - everywhere we are returning the Ukrainian flag and protection for all our people," said the Ukrainian leader and called on Ukrainians from the liberated territories to pass on any known information about the crimes of the occupiers of Ukrainian land.

Volodymyr Zelensky also announced that the units of the National Police of Ukraine are returning to the liberated territories.

"And I want to thank today our scouts, our special services, who again proved to be very effective in driving the enemy away. I also thank the soldiers of the 14th separate mechanized brigade ‘Knyaz Roman the Great’, the commander of the Kharkiv division especially noted the heroic actions of the boys of this brigade. We are not forgetting other areas. Fierce fighting continues both in Donbas and in the southern part of our country. I thank the Marines of the 503rd Battalion for their courage in the Donetsk region. I thank the reconnaissance soldiers from the 131st separate reconnaissance battalion, who, risking their lives, were the first to come forward and ensure the fulfillment of the tasks set by the collective military units in the Kherson region," added Zelensky.

The Ukrainian president announced that he had signed decrees awarding 293 servicemen who distinguished themselves at the front, but it became clear that the military were not the only ones he awarded that day.

"Today in Kyiv, I met Haluk Bayraktar, a person whom I do not need to introduce in Ukraine. The context of the meeting is understandable, the results will also be understandable. We will strengthen our country. I presented Mr. Bayraktar with the Order of Merit, 1st degree, he really deserves it," commented the President of Ukraine.

NATO chief: Ukraine's counter-offensive brings the war into a critical phase

Russia's war in Ukraine is entering a "critical phase" thanks to a Ukrainian counteroffensive, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, urging Western solidarity with Kyiv not to weaken despite the energy crisis and rising cost of living.

"Ukrainian forces managed to stop Moscow's offensive in Donbas, struck behind Russian lines and regained territory," said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at a joint press conference in Brussels with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

"Just in the last few days we have seen new advances both south in Kherson and east in the Kharkiv region," he added.

According to Kyiv, a turning point has begun in the war.

The Ukrainian General Staff reports that a total of over 1,000 square kilometers have been recaptured in recent days. About 30 settlements have been liberated in the Kharkiv region.

The Russian administration in the Kharkiv region urged residents to leave their homes in the war zone due to increased attacks by the Ukrainian armed forces. Russian sources report the transfer of reinforcements to the area of intense fighting, where on September 7 the Ukrainian army went on a counter-offensive.

The risk to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is increasing, the International Atomic Energy Agency has warned, because of the ongoing shelling, for which Moscow and Kyiv blame each other. The Russian leadership of the Zaporizhzhia region accused the Ukrainian authorities of trying to disable the plant and unilaterally cut off electricity.

Russia has questioned the continuation of Ukrainian food exports through the Black Sea after November under the "grain deal", which it says is poorly implemented. The agreement was concluded with the mediation of the UN and Turkey and so far 2.5 million tons of foodstuffs have been exported under it.

Russia transfers troops in an attempt to hold what it can in the Kharkiv direction, the Russians evacuate Izyum

Russia is transferring troops to the Kharkiv direction and will probably try to counterattack to retake the towns and villages liberated by the Ukrainian Armed Forces after a 6-month occupation. As evidence of its intentions, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation published on Friday a video of the transfer of Russian troops to the border with the Kharkiv region.

The published video shows the movement of a military column with BTR-82A and howitzers in tow. TASS reports that part of the Kharkiv region and the regional administrations in Volchansk, Izyum, Kupyansk and Lopan are under the control of the allied forces of Russia and the LPR, although according to conflicting information, the Ukrainians have already captured Kupyansk as well. Russian propaganda talks about the "liberation" of 20 percent of the territory of the region, but footage on social networks showed along the route of the VSU strike march how the local population welcomed the warriors of Kyiv as real liberators.

In addition to the news about the transfer of reinforcements, TASS also reports that the military-civilian administration of the occupation authorities has begun the evacuation of the civilian population. According to the Kremlin deputy in the territories under Russian control, Vitaly Ganchev, the evacuation is the most important task before the administration. The Russians are evacuating people from Izyum and Kupyansk and have offered to evacuate the residents of Velikiy Burluk. According to Ganchev, who spoke on the propaganda program "Solovyov Live" under artillery and missile fire of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Friday, all the settlements were "liberated" according to the terminology of Moscow. On Thursday, Ganchev reported on Russian television that the Ukrainian Armed Forces tried to surround and capture Balakliia, but the enemy was repulsed. Almost at the same time that the Russian media quoted his words, the first clips of the Ukrainian flag flying over Balakliia appeared on social networks.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has closed its official pages on the social networks "VKontakte" and "Odnoklassniki" for comments after the negative and critical comments about the actions of the Russian army in Ukraine and the defeats in the regions of Kharkiv and Kherson have increased over the past three days.

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