THE President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyduring an exclusive interview with AFP and broadcast today, discounted that a much larger Russian offensive is imminent in northeastern and eastern Ukraine, with the aim, he says, of capturing Kharkiv, a region where large-scale operations launched by the militants continue forces of Russia on May 10.
“They started their business, it can consist of many waves. And this is their first wave. But the situation is under control following this first wave,” the head of state assured, as Russia this month recorded its biggest territorial gains since the end of 2022.
According to him, Russia would like to seize the homonymous capital of the Kharkiv region, just a few tens of kilometers from the border. But Moscow’s efforts to capture it had failed in 2022 and Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the second largest Ukrainian city was not a target “for now”.
According to Mr. Putin, the aim is to retaliate once morest the Ukrainian strikes of recent months on Russian territory and to create a neutral zone to prevent new ones – stopping Ukrainian attacks on Russia, however, does not seem very likely.
Moscow’s forces, according to analysts, are trying to take advantage of the shortages of both experienced personnel and weapons that the Ukrainian army faces following more than two years of war.
Mr. Zelenskiy acknowledged, speaking to AFP, that there is a shortage of staff. “A large number of brigades have large gaps,” he said.
To address this shortfall, a controversial law on the recruitment of more Ukrainians was passed in Kiev, lowering the age limit for conscription from 27 to 25, and it comes into effect today.
President Zelensky also signed a law yesterday allowing the conscription of prisoners in exchange for their parole following serving time.
The head of state, referring to the West, criticized that he has in practice been prohibited from using weapons, especially of longer range, supplied to his country’s armed forces by Europe and the US to hit targets on Russian territory. He also said that his country needs to be sent three times as many Patriot systems as it has and 120 to 130 F-16 fighter jets or similar to “end”, according to him, “the dominance of the airwaves” of the Russian Air Force.
In anticipation, Kiev has launched, according to Moscow, regarding a hundred drones in one direction once morest Russian regions and the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, killing two people and reportedly causing power outages and infrastructure fires .
Oleh Sinekhubov, regional governor in Kharkiv, said that Ukrainian forces have so far been unable to stop the advance of their enemy.
“The enemy began to destroy Vovchansk, using tanks and artillery. It’s not just dangerous to be down there, it’s practically impossible,” he said.
Some 200 residents remain on site, according to him, while the city, regarding fifty kilometers from the regional capital Kharkiv. The city had regarding 18,000 inhabitants before the war.
The Russian army often razes Ukrainian cities to take them, such as Bakhmut last year or Avdiivka in February.
Advance
Further west, the Russian armed forces continued to advance on the second axis of their assault on the periphery.
The target seems to be the village of Lukiantsi, to open the way to Liptsi, another community on the way to Kharkiv.
“The hostilities continue in Lukyanci. Yes, we have an advance of the enemy in this community. But our soldiers are still trying to hold her,” the governor said.
For its part, the Russian army claimed yesterday that within a week 12 communities and added that their forces continue to advance.
A total of around 9,300 civilians have been hastily evacuated from their homes in the Kharkiv region.
Kiev alleges that Moscow’s forces are using civilians as “human shields” in Vovchansk and have carried out at least one summary execution.
An Olympic truce is ruled out
Moscow recorded in one week its biggest territorial gains since the end of 2022, seizing 257 square kilometers in the Kharkiv region alone, according to an AFP analysis based on data from the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) broadcast yesterday.
Yesterday at noon, Kharkiv, which has been bombarded frequently recently, suffered new Russian strikes, with at least three dead and 28 others injured, according to the latest casualty count released last night by Mayor Ihor Terekhov.
In Vovchansk, Russian shelling killed a 35-year-old man and wounded a 60-year-old man, according to the regional prosecutor’s office, which said both were civilians.
For their part, the Russian armed forces were confronted with regarding a centimeter Ukrainian drones on the night of Thursday into Friday.
Belgorod regional governor Vychislav Gladkov announced the death of a mother and her four-year-old son in a drone strike in the village of Aktyabrsky.
In the evening, he reported that a man was killed in a drone attack in the village of Novaya Naumavska and another was hospitalized.
In the Krasnadar region (southwest), authorities reported that two Ukrainian drones caused a fire at a refinery in Tuapse. In the same region, “political infrastructure” caught fire in a raid on Navarasisk, a port on the Black Sea.
In Crimea, Sevastopol, headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, was partially without power following a power distribution facility was hit, according to local authorities.
While yesterday a woman was killed in a Ukrainian strike in Bryansk, its regional governor announced.
The war doesn’t seem likely to stop, not even temporarily. Ukrainian President Zelensky in his interview with AFP that he rejects any possibility of an Olympic truce.
“I told him: Emmanuel (p. AFP : Macron, the president of France, who put the idea on the table), we don’t believe it. Let’s imagine for a moment that a ceasefire is declared. First of all, we don’t trust (acting president of Russia Vladimir) Putin. Second, he will not withdraw his troops. Thirdly (…), tell me, Emmanuel – I told him -, who guarantees us that Russia will not take advantage to bring troops to our territory?”
“We are once morest any truce that plays the enemy’s game,” the Ukrainian president insisted.
#Zelensky #expects #wider #attack #Russia
