Russia military map shows troop withdrawal in east Ukraine

Moscow’s forces have made a major withdrawal from Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, according to a military map presented by the Russian defence ministry on Sunday.

Russia controlled just a sliver of territory in the region’s east, behind the Oskil river, the map showed.

It was part of a ministry video of its daily briefing, AFP reported.

An earlier map on Saturday showed Russia occupying much more territory in the region.

Ukraine says it has reclaimed swathes of land over the last two days as part of a lightning counter-offensive, pushing back Russia’s military from strategic holdouts in the east.

The Russian military made the surprise announcement Saturday that it was “regrouping” its forces south from Kharkiv to the Donetsk region to focus its military efforts there.

Meanwhile, Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-appointed leader of Chechnya and Putin ally whose troops have been at the forefront of the war in Ukraine, has conceded that the campaign was not going to plan.

In an 11-minute-long audio message posted on Telegram Kadyrov said: “If today or tomorrow changes are not made in the conduct of the special military operation, I will be forced to go to the country’s leadership to explain to them the situation on the ground.”

The criticism came after the Russian army’s leadership appeared to be caught off-guard by Ukraine’s fightback against its invasion in the northeast.

Reporting from Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo said many on pro-Russian Telegram channels are saying this is a defeat, “and one high-profile military analyst said that their troops are in an operational crisis and that the Ukrainians have seized the initiative in this war”.