The Ukrainian people keep fending off Vladimir Putin's Russian forces. As Matt covered earlier this morning, they held onto the capital city of Kyiv once more. And they're reportedly done the same in the second largest city of Kharkiv, where Russians had entered earlier on Sunday local time and blew up a natural gas pipeline there. Residents were urged to protect themselves from smoke by covering their windows with damp cloths or gauze.
The footage shows a gas pipeline on fire in Kharkiv after a Russian attack.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) February 27, 2022
Video: State Special Communications Service of Ukraine pic.twitter.com/owuSoKqoFA
Throughout Sunday, which at Eastern European Standard Time is seven hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, street fighting reportedly took place in Kharkiv. It's now 5:00pm local time there, and getting close to dark. The ill-equipped Russian forces are said to not be fighting in the dark, but rather do so close to dawn.
Oleh Synyehubov, the governor of Kharkiv, posted hours earlier on Facebook that they were in control of the city.
Kharkiv’s mayor says Ukraine has taken back control of the city after Russian troops broke through defenses this morning pic.twitter.com/6BzGzDd4Ch
— max seddon (@maxseddon) February 27, 2022
A short time ago, more reports came pouring in as various sources covered Ukrainian victory in holding down the city, especially when faced with "demoralized" Russian enemy troops.
There's not that much daylight left in Ukraine, and Russian forces find it hard to move at night in foreign terrain. As far as I can see, they are no closer to their objectives of taking Kyiv and Kharkiv and decapitating the Ukrainian state. Momentum lost. Bogged down. Losing
— Peter Jukes (@peterjukes) February 27, 2022
The Commander of Ukrainian forces in Kharkiv has claimed that dozens of Russian troops have surrendered, and that the captured soldiers had complained of demoralization and not understanding the mission, as well as being short of fuel. (via @TimListerCNN)
— Alli Hedges Maser (@AllisonLHedges) February 27, 2022
Ukrainian forces back in control of second largest city after hours of fighting. Russian special forces ‘demoralized,’ Kharkiv mayor says
— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) February 27, 2022
There's even images of Russian forces who have surrendered to the Ukrainians defending their homeland in Kharkiv.
Russians are said to have lost approximately 4,300 troops, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.
Putin is reportedly not happy. According to a Twitter thread from Riho Terras, a member of European Parliament and the former chief of defence of Estonia, Putin is "furious," and has had his oligarchs convene with him in Urals so they wouldn't flee. It seems a bit like that scene from "Downfall," about Hitler's last days.
THREAD 1/7 Intel from a Ukrainian officer about a meeting in Putin’s lair in Urals. Oligarchs convened there so no one would flee. Putin is furious, he thought that the whole war would be easy and everything would be done in 1-4 days. @EPPGroup @general_ben @edwardlucas @politico pic.twitter.com/8AoelUDWM9
— Riho Terras (@RihoTerras) February 26, 2022
7/7 The Ukrainians must avoid panic! The missile strikes are for intimidation, the Russians fire them at random to “accidentally” hit residential buildings to make the attack look larger than it really is. Ukraine must stay strong and we must provide assistance! #StandWithUkraine
— Riho Terras (@RihoTerras) February 26, 2022
On Sunday, Putin took further action by telling his defense minister and chief of military's General Staff to put the nuclear deterrent forces in a "special regime of combat duty," putting them on alert and leading to the possibility of nuclear war.
As quoted by a report from the Associated Press, blamed "aggressive actions" from NATO in a televised address. "Western countries aren’t only taking unfriendly actions against our country in the economic sphere, but top officials from leading NATO members made aggressive statements regarding our country," he complained.
In addition to other sanctions the United States has finally increasingly imposed, including against Putin himself, the United States and other nations announced in a joint statement on Saturday that they would block "selected" Russian banks from the SWIFT bank messaging system.