nuclear power plant. according to the company one of the missiles landed within 300 meters of that nuclear power plant. the blast shattered more than 100 windows. now, the russians certainly do seem to be at best digging in preparation for perhaps a renewed ukrainian offensive. now we ve seen the pictures on social media that would indicate the ukrainians are approaching the city that fell to the russians last july. so it does appear that perhaps the offensive in the kharkiv region may have come to an end, but perhaps the ukrainians are just gearing up for offenses in other areas. michael? yeah, indeed. good to have you there on the scene. ben wedemen, thanks so much. ukraine s first lady has paid her respects to britain s queen elizabeth ahead of the late
ground in the northeast as russian forces retreat from the kharkiv region. kyiv says that some russian units lost more than half of their troops and hundreds of pieces of military equipment during the retreat. ukrainian forces also say they ve seized control of a key river in region. the video you see there. the president volodymyr zelenskyy says they re gearing up to liberate more cities. translator: perhaps it seems to someone now after a series of victories we have a certain lull, but this is not a lull. this is preparation for the next sequence of words very important to us all and that definitely must be heard. cnn s senior international correspondent ben wedemen joins me now from kharkiv in northeast ukraine. ben, it has been an extraordinary counter offensive by ukraine. week wale extraordinary the pace of retreat by the russians.
world. he s really been a very powerful weapon for ukraine in this conflict. it s why i was a little worried when he saw he was had a traffic accident, because that would have been a great way to do something if it had been a real assassination attempt. he s a huge target for the russians. ben, what is the mood like among ukrainians that you talk to in, you know, various places? are they optimistic about what lies ahead? certainly the feeling is that a corner has been turned, that this conflict you know, they ve had surprising victories. for instance, you ll recall was it late march or early april when the russians retreated from around kyiv. but since then the going has been fairly tough.
largest city occupied by russians since the 24th of february. obviously that could be a more difficult battle because we understand what are described as elite russian troop have been deployed there in anticipation of a much talked about ukrainian offensive in that area. anderson? ben, stay with us. i want to bring in cnn military analyst and retired army general wesley clark, who s the supreme allied nato commander. in your mind is president zelenskyy s trip to this liberated area a sign of leadership. is the risk worth the benefit? oh, absolutely the risk was worth it. it is a sign of leadership. and he s played this exactly right from the beginning, anderson. he s a very charismatic guy. he really knows how to represent the people of ukraine, and he s been really effective in using his i guess his tv and acting experience to portray the struggle of ukraine to the
neuriva think bigger. we ll have more on the viewing tonight of the ceremonies here in london ahead, but there s a lot of news elsewhere, in particular out of ukraine tonight. we learned a short time ago president zelenskyy was in a minor car crash, no serious injuries reported. earlier today he visited the liberated city of izium where he presided over a moment of silence over those who lost their lives in the fight and occupation. ben, what was president zelenskyy s reaction seeing this area, this country that s been