Putin formalizes annexation claims even as Ukraine forces Russian military to retreat

Ukraine's military has forced Russian troops to fall back to their second defensive line, but there has not yet been a collapse like the one seen during Ukraine’s lightning counteroffensive in the northeast last month", said Jack Watling, a military analyst at the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank in the United Kingdom. “But the significance of these advances is that it’s progress, and it’s continuing to create problems in very different geographic areas for the Russian command,” Watling said, adding that it was wearing down some of Moscow's "more capable troops.”