Ukrainian units engaged in street fighting with Russian forces in Vovchansk have halted their advance, according to military sources in Kyiv, although a senior Moscow official said there were enough resources to continue the push. the front line.
Russian attempts to gain a foothold in the city of Vovchanskwhich is one of the largest cities in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine and had a population of 17,000 before the war, “were foiled“, said Ukrainian General Staff in its latest report.
Citing Ukrainian authorities, the Institute for the Study of War, an influential Washington-based think tank, reports that Ukrainian forces are stabilizing the situation along the northern border in the Kharkiv region and that the pace of Russian offensive operations in the region continues to decline.
Six people were injured on Thursday in a daytime Russian attack on Vovchansk using cluster munitions, local officials said, as rescuers and volunteers brought aid to those hit by shelling. Among the injured were two doctors.
Ukrainian authorities evacuated some 8,000 civilians from the city. The Russian army’s usual tactic is to reduce towns and villages to rubble with airstrikes before its units take action.
Vovchansk, located just 5 kilometers from the Russian border, has been a hot spot in the fighting in recent days. Russia launched an offensive in the Kharkiv region late last week, Significantly increasing pressure on outnumbered and under-armed Ukrainian forceswhich are awaiting delayed deliveries of crucial arms and munitions from Western partners.
Russia also tested Ukrainian defenses in other locations along the roughly 1,000-kilometer front line that winds north-south across eastern Ukraine. That line has barely changed over the past 18 months in what has become a war of attrition. Recent Russian attacks took place in the eastern Donetsk regionas well as in the Chernihiv and Sumy regions in the north and the southern Zaporizhia region. The apparent goal is to exhaust Ukrainian resources and exploit weaknesses.
The Russians “incapable of major progress”
NATO’s top military official believes that the Russian armed forces are incapable of a major advance.
“We do not believe that the Russians have the necessary manpower to achieve a strategic breakthrough”American General Christopher Cavoli, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, told the press after a meeting of the organization’s senior military officials in Brussels.
“More to the point, they lack the skills and capabilities to do so, to operate at the scale necessary to exploit any breakthrough for strategic purposes” said Mr. Cavoli.
Asked whether Russia was about to launch its anticipated summer offensive, Mr. Cavoli replied that “we can never be sure”, but he added that “what we don’t see is a lot of reserves being generated somewhere” and which would be necessary for such an offensive.
Ukraine has repeatedly attempted to strike behind Russian lines, often using drones, although Russia’s response to new technology used in unmanned vehicles has improved in recent months.
Sevastopol attacked and deprived of electricity
Furthermore, on the night of May 17, the annexed city of Sevastopol was the subject of a massive attack by drones and marine drones, reports Meduza.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, air defense systems in service destroyed and intercepted 51 drones over the territory of the Crimean peninsulawhile naval aviation and patrol boats of the Russian Black Sea Fleet destroyed and intercepted six “unmanned boats” in the waters of the Black Sea.
The Sevastopol substation was damaged during the night attack, partially depriving the city of electricitydeclared the “governor” installed by Russia, Mykhaylo Razvozhayev.
Zelensky: Kharkiv region ‘under control’; Shoigu: offensive “is going rather well”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with his top military commanders in Kharkiv on Thursday and said the region “is generally under control“. However, he acknowledged on social media that the situation was “extremely difficult” and indicated that Ukraine was again reinforcing its units in Kharkiv. Mr. Zelensky also met with wounded soldiers and distributed medals.
“We clearly see how the occupier is trying to distract our forces and make our combat work less focused” he said during his evening video address on Wednesday.
Former Russian Defense Minister and current head of the Presidential Security Council, Sergei Shoigu insisted that Russian troops were continuing the offensive in many directions and “it was going pretty well”.
“I hope we continue to move forward. We have certain reserves for this purpose, in terms of personnel, equipment and ammunition” he said in a televised speech.
The Institute for the Study of War calculated that Russian forces attacking in Kharkiv have not progressed more than 8 kilometers from the common border.
He believes that Moscow’s main goal in Kharkiv is to create a “buffer” which will prevent Ukrainian cross-border strikes on the neighboring Russian region of Belgorod.
Blinken assures on aid, Putin takes care of his rear in China, NATO considers sending instructors to Ukraine
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during a two-day visit to Kyiv this week, sought to reassure Ukraine of continued US support. He announced a $2 billion arms deal, with most of the money coming from a package approved last month.
Ukrainian officials say their needs are urgent and Western partners have promised to accelerate deliveries of military equipment.
Denmark donates another 5.6 billion crowns ($814 million) to Ukraine, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said on Thursday, half of which is intended for air defense systems.
The US Joint Chiefs of Staff has admitted the possibility of sending NATO military instructors to Ukraine to train Ukrainian soldiers, but this will not happen in the near future, according to the New York Times, which quotes the president of the committee, General Charles Brown.
Speaking to journalists, the general said that sending instructors to Ukraine “seems inevitable”. “In time we will get there”did he declare.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to consolidate its ties with China by making an official visit to Beijing.
China diplomatically supported Russia during its invasion of Ukraine and is now a major export market for Russian oil and gas. Moscow has also turned to Beijing for high-tech products.