i am erin burnett. russia running home, the pentagon saying that russian forces are going back to russia over the border completely after stunningly effective counteroffensive by the ukrainians. the press secretary said the russians were caught off guard and some are in full retreat. we have seen a number of russian forces, especially in the northeast, cross over the border into russia. full on, our exclusive video from a town just liberated clearly shows how desperate russian troops were to get out. we have a report from a recaptured city, they left crates of equipment. they left weapons. they left the ukrainian take. leaving so much equipment behind. crucial equipment that will be used by ukrainians against russians and it shows the desperate nature of russia. this is as evidenced of more defense dissent in russia, nearly 50 municipal deputies have signed a petition demanding the resignation of putin. when i mentioned this petition last night, we are at almost double
russian military forced the others to shut down and it lost its main connection to the nation s power grid and atomic safety experts are extremely worried. cnn s melissa bell has the latest from ukraine. reporter: there s been good news from the ukrainian counteroffensive tonight according to officials here in kyiv with an aide to president zelenskyy of what he says is the ukrainian flag. this town has been the center of battles for some time and we are getting some confirmation of the fact it may be now in ukrainian hands and also on the russian side, with some talk of the retreat of russian forces around the town. it is of course a counteroffensive now going on for just about a week and about which ukrainian authorities have been remaining pretty tight lipped insisting this is about degrading russian military capabilities, trying to take out infrastructure that allows them to resupply their troops around kherson. not really aimed at fast territorial gains. of course this
left banded. for weeks, ukraine have been publicly hinting about a counter offensive in the south. apparently planned for their independence day late last month. but it appears that the russians may have been duped by abatements which. which, for this major push in the northeast. the numbers are hard to verify. but in less than two weeks. russia may have suffered one of its biggest losses of the war so far. here s a ukrainian president speaking on monday. since the start of september, our soldiers have already liberated 6000 square kilometers of ukrainian territory in the east and south. and we are moving further. a russian graduate though, has been followed by airstrikes. targeting civilian infrastructure in the kharkiv region. ukrainian gains have been so significant, even for russians had to own their losses as well as a major retreat. cnn s melissa bell and her crew, gain access to newly made areas in northeast. and reported that the battle is still going on with an e
lesser extent in the south down here. they ve gained even more ground in offensives. president zelenskyy claims they have recaptured some 6,000 square kilometers of territory. it s about 2,300 square miles since the beginning of the month. this is impossible to verify, but it is even more ground than the russians actually gained in the last several months and it happened fast. i want to show you this animation here, if we can zoom in. you can see the yellow there, how quickly ukrainian troops have recaptured territory that had been occupied by the russians. now russia is responding. ukrainian officials say russian strikes knocked out power in the region. in donetsk ukrainian forces also recaptured a town there after forces crossed the donetsk river. this here is the aftermath. the capture will further complicate any attempt by the remaining russian-backed forces to withdraw, and last night secretary of state tony blinken called the recent gains by ukrainians encouraging.
they would be surrounded and captured, though they re leaving behind a trail of destruction. cnn s sam kiley is live in kharkiv, ukraine, with an exclusive look at what remains there now. he s the first international correspondent inside izyum since the liberation of that city. sam, tell us what you re seeing. well, brianna, it has been an extraordinary campaign by the ukrainians, opening with a counteroffensive in the south, possibly drawing off russian troops there, and now president zelenskyy saying they ve captured 6,000 square kilometers. military forces saying they ve liberated the whole of kharkiv. this is what it looked like in the strategically vital city of izyum. it s opiniobeen a stunning a. ukraine s route of russian invaders has recaptured 6,000 kilometers. this land was held by russia just a few days ago. now it s providing a rich harvest to ukraine s army of abandoned russian equipment. the russian z symbol painted over, the guns ready to kill russians.