INSKEEP: What makes this trip worth it for China's president?įENG: Well, Xi just hasn't met many other world leaders since early 2020 because of the country's strict zero-COVID policies. His meetings include a regional security forum, also attended by Central Asia's other big neighbor, Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia. But by midweek, he expects to be in Central Asia. MARTINEZ: He's been operating within a strict COVID bubble. INSKEEP: The leader of China, Xi Jinping, is preparing to make his first trip out of his country in over two years. And with limited amount of fuel and the active fighting, it's not going to be an easy resupply. So if it gets knocked off the grid, they can rely on generators, but they only have so long. But they've got to cool this stuff down still. Power lines have been restored to the Zaporizhzhia power plant, which means it's connected to the grid. NADWORNY: So the plant is going to power down the last remaining reactor. There's still trouble at a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine that is still controlled by the Russians, still near the fighting. And I think it's a good reminder that this offensive may have caught the Russians by surprise, but it doesn't mean the war is anywhere near over. She didn't share her last name for fear of safety. But there's also a real sense of fatigue and fear. There was mixed emotions 'cause there's excitement about the Ukrainian gains. NADWORNY: Well, we were in Sloviansk - that's about an hour southeast of Izium - visiting with people who are housebound. INSKEEP: Elissa, you mentioned driving around across the country over the weekend and not very far from the front lines. That's where Russian forces are dug in, near Kherson and the Black Sea. But there is still a counteroffensive happening in the south. So they're a base from which they could launch attacks on the Donbas and Donetsk regions. NADWORNY: Well, there - it's a big shift because Izium, Kupiansk - these are transportation and supply hubs for the Russian forces. So how much does it seem that the war has shifted here, really? Of course that does raise the reality that the Russians still have a lot of firepower. In many places, power that was struck out has actually already been restored. Folks here are calling it a retaliation for the counteroffensive. They hit civilian infrastructure in cities like Kharkiv and Sumy. But, you know, on Sunday, the Russian missiles - they were going wild. He called it a regrouping in order to scale up efforts further southeast. Over the weekend, Russia's Defense Ministry spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, confirmed that forces withdrew from Balakliya and Izium. Russia's Ministry of Defense and the Kremlin haven't said anything official, but Russian military maps show that the front line in the east has moved significantly, and not in the Russian's favor. INSKEEP: I was surprised over the weekend to realize that even the Russian authorities are acknowledging that things have not been moving in their direction. And given the videos and photos we've seen, Russian forces left in a hurry, leaving valuable weapons behind. Ukrainian forces have made it to the towns of Izium, Balakliya and Kupiansk, all of which are strategic places that have been controlled by Russia for the last six months. NADWORNY: Now, over the weekend, we've been driving around all across Ukraine and in the east, and people are just glued to their phones - I mean, watching towns get taken what's going to be the next town? There's just been so much movement. is reporting that Ukraine has captured all of the Kharkiv region. The Institute of the Study of War in D.C. NADWORNY: So Ukrainian officials claim to have recaptured more than 1,200 square miles since the beginning of September. INSKEEP: How much have the battle lines been moving? INSKEEP: NPR's Elissa Nadworny is in Kyiv. As we said before, we will not surrender. Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, spoke with CBS. They're pushing forward in a swift-moving counteroffensive. Ukrainian forces reclaimed a lot of territory in the country's northeast. Ukraine's military had a very good weekend.
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