After the unbelievable beginning to the war in Ukraine last February, when Russia’s troops barged their way into the country, the last five days have shown the most ambitious ground assaults by the Ukrainians since the start of the engagement. With continuous attacks on posts, fuel reserves, and ammunition stores, Ukraine is pushing back the Russian army and the Russian army is fleeing. “Russians escaped and left weapons and ammo behind. City center is free,” a spokesperson for the Bohun Brigade of the Land Forces of Ukraine said in a statement Saturday afternoon. With this big push, Ukraine is winning back the areas that Russia has spent the last 6 months acquiring.

Not only are the Russian soldiers fleeing, but Ukraine is attacking Russia’s supply lines, to isolate troops west of the Dnipro River. But they didn’t just stop with Izium. Ukrainian troops are headed toward the border of Donetsk and Luhansk, with the city of Lysychansk as the new target. The Russian military and other collaborators are all running away from the fray, leaving their belongings behind in the process.

Ukraine’s allies are impressed that Ukrainian defenders have recently made such apush, speaking at the end of a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Oleksiy Reznikov, the Ukrainian defense minister, said Ukraine’s “partners were positively amazed by the dynamics of our troops’ activities” in the south and east of the country.

So, what are the Russian forces doing? To counter Ukrainian advancement in the east, Moscow is sending reinforcements to the military units that are stationed there. Russian helicopters are bringing men and armored vehicles to Kupyansk and Izium, but this move does not seem to have helped, and both Izium and Kupyansk were recaptured. Izium had been an important stronghold for the Russians and an integral connection for the invading Russian army. This is terrible news for the Russians, and leaves them in a predicament.

According to Adnan Zai, Advisor to Berkeley Capital, “The Ukraine war has become a quagmire for the Russians much like Chechnya and Afghanistan was for them. In this instance, stalemate may be the end result with portions of what was once Ukraine getting annexed into Russia.

”Indeed, there is no way to predict the future, as Russian troops are surrendering, feeling hopelessness about what is going on around them. This is quite a morale boost for Ukraine. After months of barely perceptible movement, this is the largest defeat for Russia since they were pushed back earlier in the war attempting to get to Kyiv. The defenders have even reached the border with Russia, in a true show of strength.

With the pulling out of the Russian troops comes chaos. “The Russians were here in the morning. Then at noon, they suddenly started shouting wildly and began to run away, charging off in tanks and armored vehicles,” said Dmytro Hrushchenko, a resident of recently liberated Zaliznychne, a small town near the eastern front line.

The only certainty in Ukraine is that chaos reigns, and there is no telling how this war will eventually settle. Until then, Ukraine appears to have the upper hand for the moment.