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o Ukrainian troops on Tuesday accelerated their military advances on two fronts, pushing Russian forces into retreat in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions to the east and Kherson region to the south.
o The Ukrainian counteroffensive, which had moved far more slowly in the south compared to the lightning push through the northeast Kharkiv region in September, has suddenly picked up speed, with Russian units retreating in recent days from a large swath of territory along the west bank of the Dnieper River.
o At the same time, the interior minister in neighboring Kazakhstan, Marat Akhmetzhanov, said that an equal number of Russians — 200,000 — had crossed that country border since Sept. 21, with most apparently seeking to flee the mobilization or out of fear that Putin would soon impose martial law and bar international travel.
o Tens of thousands more Russians have fled to other neighboring countries including Georgia and Finland.
