Ukraine's counterattack against Russia is leaving people completely stunned

Ukraine's counterattack against Russia has left people stunned at the speed and effectiveness with which they're pushing the invaders back.

More than six months after Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine, the situation for the invaded nation is surprising the world.

In the early days of the Russian invasion there were fears that troops would quickly make their way into Ukraine's cities and topple Volodymyr Zelenskyy's government.

However, the invasion force failed to take the capital city of Kyiv and got bogged down on other fronts.

Russia has been able to take some territory, but this is not how they envisioned their 'special military operation' going when they invaded under the false pretences of 'denazifying' Ukraine.

In return, many nations have provided refuge to Ukrainians fleeing the conflict as well as supplying the nation with weapons to continue the fight and hitting Russia with punishing sanctions.

Pro-Russian mapmakers tracking the fighting around Kharkiv are showing a really significant problem for Russia unfolding rapidly. pic.twitter.com/QVxY18ac5A

— Eliot Higgins (@EliotHiggins) September 9, 2022

Now Ukraine's military has launched a series of counterattacks against the Russian invaders and retaken significant chunks of their land.

Ukrainian officials today said their armed forces had retaken the city of Kupiansk, which had been an important supply hub for Russian troops.

In response, Russia's defence ministry announced they are pulling back their forces from parts of Ukraine's eastern Kharkiv region.

They have said that they will instead consolidate their forces in the Donbas region in order to shore up their defences there.

Russia gave a similar justification for their reasons behind pulling troops away from Kyiv after they failed to take the city.

Advances in the counterattack are happening so fast that analysts cannot keep up with the pace of the troop movements.

An account from a Russian Channel says that Ukraine massed a “powerful tank fist” with 15 tanks at Balakliya, which led to the breakthrough. They say Russian aviation couldn’t help in time because Ukraine saturated the area with air defenses. https://t.co/rG2tpLyv8z pic.twitter.com/8z1lFDBxZR

— Rob Lee (@RALee85) September 8, 2022

A Russian channel has claimed that Ukraine has used a mixture of tanks and air defences to advance rapidly while keeping the Russian air power from interfering.

What this means for the future of the conflict is unknown, as while it seems as though the Ukrainians are doing well with their counterattack it does not guarantee that an end to the war is in sight.

The UK's Ministry of Defence said this morning (10 September) that Ukrainian forces appeared to have 'advanced up to 50km' (30 miles) into territory held by the Russians.

The MoD also suggests that Putin's troops were taken by surprise with Ukraine's counterattack, claiming that the areas taken were only lightly defended and noting that this latest move poses problems for the Russian positions in both the north and south of the country.

If you would like to donate to the Red Cross Emergency Appeal, which will help provide food, medicines and basic medical supplies, shelter and water to those in Ukraine, click here for more information.