Those reports are reluctantly corroborated by the west[0], although it seems you are more interested in bad faith communication with snarky remarks, to each their own.
[0] https://www.ft.com/content/ee62788a-8191-48e2-87ee-e455614d5...
[0] https://www.ft.com/content/ee62788a-8191-48e2-87ee-e455614d5...
Your financial times source has plenty of good quotes. None of which support the that it was a minor retreat of just a couple thousand dudes.
> A senior military official said on Monday that Russian forces “had largely ceded their gains” around Ukraine’s second-largest city and “withdrawn to the north and the east”, adding that “many of these forces have moved over the border into Russia”. Kyiv says as much 6,000 sq km of territory has been “de-occupied”.
> Moscow’s troops abandoned equipment as they retreated “could be indicative of Russia’s disorganised command and control.”
> The Russian defence ministry has acknowledged its troops have pulled back in the Kharkiv region, but authorities have avoided calling it a retreat.
> In Izyum, a critical logistics hub where thousands of Russian troops had been stationed, Ukrainian soldiers hoisted the national flag over the central district government building in the main square.
Note the last quote; thousands of troops in the city of Izyum alone.