Is Russia on the run?
Ukraine’s Kharkiv counter-offensive has the Kremlin on the back foot
![This photograph taken in Balakliya, Kharkiv region, on September 10, 2022 shows a destroyed military tank. - Ukrainian forces said September 10, 2022 they had entered the town of Kupiansk in eastern Ukraine, dislodging Russian troops from a key logistics hub in a lightning counter-offensive that has seen swathes of territory recaptured. (Photo by Juan BARRETO / AFP)](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/media-assets/image/20220917_BLP901.jpg)
UKRAINE’S SURPRISE counter-offensive, which began on September 6th, continues to overwhelm Russian defences in the country’s north-east. On the morning of September 11th, Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s military chief, announced his forces had retaken more than 3,000 square kilometres in 11 days—vastly more than Russia had captured in several months of grinding combat since April. Other accounts suggest the figure may be nearly 9,000 square kilometres, an area roughly the size of Cyprus.
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