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image source, Telegram / Oleh Sinegubov
Ukrainian soldiers who have been fighting back near the northeastern city of Kharkiv have reached the Russian border, the region’s governor said.
Oleh Sinegubov wrote on the Telegram messaging app that troops from Battalion 227 had restored a sign at the state border.
“We thank everyone who, risking their lives, is liberating Ukraine from Russian invaders,” Sinegubov said.
Images were also published showing the soldiers displaying the “V” sign for victorygathered around a makeshift border post painted blue and yellow, addressing President Zelensky.
“We are here! We are at the border!” they shouted.
The Archyde.com agency, however, indicated that the Kharkiv governor’s comments have not been able to be independently verified.
And it is not clear how many soldiers managed to reach the Russian border and where.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry also said in a Facebook post that the 227th Battalion of the 127th Brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces had reached the border with Russia and added: “Together to victory!”
“Symbolic Moment”
If the information is confirmed, this would be a symbolic moment and a boost for morale of the Ukrainians, says Danny Aeberhard, an analyst on European affairs for the BBC.
The development would suggest that the Ukrainian counteroffensive is having increasing success in pushing back Russian forces in the northeast following Western military agencies said Moscow’s offensive in the Donbas region had stalled.
Ukraine has been retaking territory in the northeast, driving Russian forces away from Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city and home to 1.4 million people.
image source, Archyde.com
The Russian forces were not prepared for the resistance put up by the Ukraine.
According to General Richard Barrons, former commander of the UK Joint Forces Command, Russia’s inability to seize Kharkiv should be considered a defeat for that country.
“It was too big a target for the Russian military,” Barrons told the BBC, adding that Russia “doesn’t have the numbers, the will or the ability to take big cities.”
“When [los rusos] stuck on the outskirts, they became an easy target for a very aggressive and successful Ukrainian counterattack, and trying to stay around Kharkiv became much less important than the ongoing fighting in Donbas,” he noted.
Barrons said Russia’s potential failure in Kharkiv does not equate to a failure of the invasion Russian according to his own words, adding that his focus now is to advance in the east of the country.
But despite the potential successes of this counteroffensive, the city of Kharkiv itself is not out of the woods.
Although the governor said on Monday that the shelling in the city “has been reduced significantly”, the Russian offensive continues: several people were injured overnight in the latest attacks.
And Ukraine still not in a position to present a threat to Russian supply lines further east.
Meanwhile, fierce battles continue in Luhansk, south of Kharkiv, and other parts of Donbas.
Ukraine’s presidency told a briefing that Russia had continued attacks in that region killing two people and wounding nine others as a result of the bombing a a hospital de Severodonetsk.
After Russia failed to take kyiv at the beginning of the invasion in late February, control of Donbas has become one of the main objectives from Moscow.
President Zelensky said Monday that Ukraine is preparing for a new Russian push in that region.
“We are preparing for new attempts by Russia to attack in Donbas, to somehow intensify its movement in southern Ukraine,” Zelensky noted.
“The occupiers still don’t want to admit that they are at a dead end and that their so-called ‘special operation’ has already failed,” he added.
And he once more asked the West to impose a oil embargo on russia.
“We are also working to strengthen sanctions once morest Russia. Partners must make decisions that limit Russia’s ties with the world every week,” he said.
“The occupiers must feel the increasing cost of the war for them, feel it constantly,” Zelensky said.
image source, Getty Images
Sweden and Finland confirmed this Sunday their intention to join NATO.
Stagnation
For his part, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Sunday that Russia’s offensive in Donbas had stalled and that Ukraine might win the war, an outcome that few military analysts predicted at the start of the conflict.
“Russia’s war in Ukraine is not going as Moscow planned,” Stolenberg told reporters on Sunday.
The declaration came following Finland and Sweden began the process to apply to join NATO.
Both countries have maintained strict policies of neutrality since the end of World War II, as NATO membership has been seen as a provocation to Moscow.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Russia was closely watching the requests from Sweden and Finland to join the alliance.
And he added that he was convinced that his accession would not strengthen Europe’s security.
“This is a serious issue, an issue of concern to us, and we will monitor it very carefully,” he said.
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