The United States believes Russia has largely ceded its captured territories near Kharkiv, and many retreating Russian soldiers have left Ukraine, crossing the border back into Russia, a senior US military official said on Monday, Reuters reported.

“In general, we assess that the Ukrainians are making progress in the struggle to liberate and restore territory in the south and east,” an American military official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

“On the spot, near Kharkiv, we estimate that the Russian forces have mostly surrendered their gains to the Ukrainians and retreated to the north and east. Many of these forces crossed the border into Russia.”

The statements made to journalists at the Pentagon were made after a weekend of quick victories by Ukrainian troops. The General Staff of Ukraine reported that its troops recaptured more than 20 towns and villages in the past day alone, as Ukrainian forces advanced deep into the territory captured by fleeing Russian troops.

A US military official was optimistic but cautious when describing Ukraine’s progress.

On Monday evening, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, announced that Ukrainian troops had returned 6,000 square kilometers of territory captured by Russia in September.

Russian military journalist Oleksandr Sladkov said on Monday that the Russian military feared they would be abandoned.

At the same time, the numerous photos that the Ukrainian military shared on social networks show weapons and military equipment abandoned by the Russian military during the chaotic withdrawal from Kharkiv region, among them tanks, armored vehicles, trucks and other “goodies” that will now be. used against invading troops.

In fact, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the military command of the Russian Federation stopped sending new units to Ukraine after the dramatic Ukrainian counteroffensive, which changed the shape of the war and shook Moscow.

“The military command of the Russian Federation has suspended the transfer of already formed new units to the territory of Ukraine,” the message on the Facebook page of the General Staff reads.

“The situation in the theater of operations, the distrust of the higher command forced a large number of volunteers to categorically refuse the prospect of service in combat conditions,” the message reads.