Ukrainian soldiers recapture one of first towns to fall to Russia in latest sign Putin’s war machine is breaking down

UKRAINIAN soldiers have recaptured one of the first towns to fall to the Russian invaders.

News that the heroes have reclaimed Trostianets is a heartening sign tinpot despot Putin's sick war is collapsing.

Local reports suggest tanks, lorries and howitzers have been seized in the area, which lies 14 miles from the Russian border.

Russia's defeat is a significant victory, defence sources say - as it opens a route to the besieged city of Sumy.

But the retreating troops have left behind scenes of utter devastation. Officials in Ukraine accused the soldiers of leaving landmines in the local hospital.

Taras Savchenko, first deputy head of Sumy province, said: “We saw huge destruction.

"We saw dozens of vehicles burnt down, both civilian and military. There’s a complete lack of any communications, power and water.”

It's claimed Russian units are retiring temporarily to Belarus to recover after suffering heavy losses.

Meanwhile, it's also understood Ukraine has won back Husarivka.

However, there is evidence Russia is using aerial bombardments to make up for their stalled sieges amid fears the battle is becoming a deadly stalemate, reports.

Lviv, which is just 40 miles from the Polish border, was hit by four Russian rockets this weekend.

Five people were injured and "significant damage" was caused to an oil storage facility.

It happened as President Joe Biden gave an emotional speech in Warsaw, Poland.

His declaration finished with an unscripted addition that Putin "cannot remain in power".

The US leader was forced to row back on the statement, with the White House insisting he wasn't calling for regime change.

Biden's apparently off-the-cuff remark sparked fury in Moscow and also rang alarm bells in the West.

And as Putin's frustrations grow, there are claims he plans to split Ukraine in half like North and South Korea.

'SIGNIFICANT VICTORY'

Military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov says the tyrant will use a pincer movement to divide neighbours.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence in London said yesterday that Moscow appears to be changing its strategy after failing to take Kyiv.

The Kremlin declared that the first stage of its campaign to “denazify and demilitarise” Ukraine was a success - and it'll now focus its efforts on breakaway province Donetsk.

A UK defence spokesman said: “Russian forces appear to be concentrating their effort to attempt the encirclement of Ukrainian forces directly facing the separatist regions in the east of the country, advancing from the direction of Kharkiv in the north and Mariupol in the south.

“The battlefield across northern Ukraine remains largely static with local Ukrainian counterattacks hampering Russian attempts to reorganise their forces.”

According to the latest estimates from the Ukrainian military, 16,600 Russian troops have been lost, along with 121 planes, 127 helicopters and 1,664 armoured personnel carriers.