Home › Security › Kharkiv breakthrough: what 7 September 2022 showed
Kharkiv breakthrough: what 7 September 2022 showed
Summary
A look back at reported Ukrainian advances in Kharkiv and Kherson oblasts, and at a large protest in Prague, in early September 2022.
What did the front line look like on 7 September 2022? As reported at the time, Ukrainian forces had broken through Russian defences in Kharkiv Oblast and advanced more than 30 kilometres into Russian-held territory. They were said to have captured many towns and cities, among them Balakliia. The advance came amid a renewed counter-offensive in the region.
A second front in the south
The Kharkiv push was not the only movement reported that week. On 4 September 2022, Ukrainian forces recaptured Vysokopillia in Kherson Oblast, a town that had been under Russian occupation since March. Ukrainian troops raised the national flag over the town's hospital, a detail that marked the change of control.
Taken together, the reports from the north-east and the south described Ukrainian forces regaining ground in two different regions within days of each other.
Pressure beyond the battlefield
The war was also felt in European politics. On 3 September 2022, an estimated 70,000 people marched in Prague, the Czech capital, demanding that the government do more to control soaring energy prices. Marchers also voiced opposition to the country's involvement in the Russo-Ukrainian War. Political groups including the Communist Party organised the demonstration.
The two strands, advances on the ground in Ukraine and public discontent over energy costs in Central Europe, were part of the same early-September picture.
