Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Kharkiv and Dnipro regions and the Black Sea city of Odessa have killed at least two civilians. “God wears a chevron of the Ukrainian flag on his shoulder,” says the Ukrainian president on Orthodox Easter.
Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Kharkiv and Dnipro regions and the Black Sea port city of Odessa killed at least two civiliansinjured others and damaged critical infrastructure, homes and commercial buildings, regional officials said Saturday.
Ukraine’s air force said last night that Russia had launched 13 drones Shahed in the direction of Kharkiv and Dnipro regions. All were shot down by air defenses, the air force commander said.
The situation is getting worse in the East
Meanwhile, the situation on the eastern front line is deteriorating for the Ukrainian armed forces, with Russia increasing pressure on Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region.
Furthermore, according to analysts at the American Institute for the Study of War, on the night of May 4, Russian forces made a notable tactical advance northwest of Avdiivka.
ISW experts believe that Russian forces are likely trying to take advantage of the little time available before Western military aid arrives by intensifying offensive operations and that they could take other tactical measures in this direction in the near future.
Ocheretyne in ruins
The Ukrainian village of Ocheretyne has been ravaged by fighting, drone footage obtained by The Associated Press shows. The village was targeted by Russian forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
Russian troops have advanced in the region, bombarding kyiv’s exhausted and ammunition-starved forces with artillery, drones and bombs. The Ukrainian military has acknowledged that the Russians had established a foothold in Ocheretyne, which had a population of around 3,000 before the war, but claims that the fighting continues. Russian Defense Ministry claims that the village was taken.
The inhabitants rushed to flee the village, including a 98-year-old woman who walked alone nearly 10 kilometers last weekwearing a pair of slippers and supported by a cane, until she reached the Ukrainian front lines.
White House: Ukrainian offensive in 2025
American military aid 61 billion dollars provided to Ukraine could allow the Ukrainian armed forces to launch a new counter-offensive in 2025declared the national security adviser to the American president, Jake Sullivanon May 4 during an event organized by the Financial Times newspaper.
Joe Biden’s advisor expects “Russian successes” on the battlefield in the near futurebecause, he said, “you can’t flip a switch instantly.”
Mr Sullivan believes US military support will help kyiv “hold the line” of defense and “guarantee that Ukraine can resist a Russian offensive” in 2024. In 2025, he added, Ukrainian forces “will move forward to retake the territory that the Russians took from them.”
Zelensky: God is our ally
In his Easter speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Ukrainians to unite in prayer for each other and for the soldiers on the front lines – and called God of “ally” in the war with Russia.
In a video filmed outside kyiv’s St. Sophia Cathedral, Mr. Zelensky, wearing a traditional embroidered shirt, said that God “has a chevron with the Ukrainian flag on his shoulder.” With such an ally, life is sure to conquer death, assures the Ukrainian president.
