The Ukraine army is continuing to push Russian forces back, liberating territory held by Putin’s troops since the start of the invasion.
As the counter attack continued, freeing village after village amid reports of Russian troops abandoning their positions, Ukraine ’s President Volodymyr Zelensky declared: “The world is amazed by our warriors.
"The enemy is in a panic.
“They will call it a gesture of goodwill. We will call it victory.”
The Ukraine army claimed that in one region it pushed the invaders right back to the Russian border.
Regional governor of the north-east Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said: “In some areas of the front, our defenders reached the state border with the Russian Federation.”
After Russia attacked power stations and other civilian infrastructure on Sunday, knocking out electricity in many places across Ukraine, the Kyiv authorities said power and water had been restored to 80 per cent of the Kharkiv region.
But there were further missile strikes on Kharkiv yesterday aimed at disrupting power and water supplies.
Ukraine’s Defence Minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said the priority now was to secure the territorial gains made in a week of rapid advances in Kharkiv.
There were reports that the Russian army had abandoned equipment and ammunition as it withdrew from areas held since the first weeks of the war.
There were also claims that retreating Russian troops had been looting.
Following the Ukraine losses, Vladimir Putin was said to have sacked Lieutenant General Roman Berdnikov, who had been in the job for just 16 days.
And there were reports that municipal deputies from 18 districts of Moscow and Saint Petersburg signed a public statement demanding that Putin resign.
President Zelensky had a direct message for the Russian president. He said: “Do you still think you can intimidate, break us, force us to make concessions?
“Did you really not understand anything? Don’t you understand who we are? What we stand for? What we are talking about?
“Read my lips – cold, hunger, darkness and thirst for us are not as scary and deadly as your ‘friendship’ and ‘brotherhood’.
"We will be with gas, lights, water and food... and without you.”
The Kremlin said their troop movements had been planned.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “The military operation continues and it will continue until the goals that were originally set are achieved.”
Russian battle-tank maker Uralvagonzavod has switched to “round-the-clock” production to replace lost weapons.
