Russia is intensifying its attacks in the Kharkiv region. Kiev admits that Vladimir Putin’s forces are achieving some “tactical successes.” Soldiers on the front line warn that the next few days will be “critical” in stopping the advance of Russian troops. Askold Krushelnycky writes about what is happening near Kharkiv in PostPravda, straight from Ukraine.
Moscow forces seized at least six border villages and forced thousands of people to flee their homes. Nearly 6,000 people were evacuated in the first few days. The Russians are trying to expand the area of the latest attack, which apparently took Ukrainian forces by surprise and caused some of them to withdraw from their too-lightly fortified positions. We wrote about this in PostPravda a few days ago.
Now about the opening of a new battle front in the Kharkiv region, Askold Krushelnycky spoke with the colonel of the Ukrainian General Staff. The military officer, who asked to remain anonymous, said that “the situation is serious and very dynamic. It has the potential to grow dangerously fast.” According to him, the next few days will be critical for the defense of Kharkiv.
What’s happening near Kharkiv
Ukraine is “sending one of its most experienced brigades to the site to reinforce the defenders. Therefore, the Russians, despite their successes, are suffering very heavy losses, and I think that this brigade, which I know well, will be able to stop the spread of the Russian attack. In the end, I hope we will be able to fend them off.”
Although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenski, the army’s commander-in-chief, and the head of military intelligence had been warning for weeks that Russia was preparing to launch an offensive this month or at the latest in June, the attack in the north of the Kharkiv region seems to have caught Ukrainians by surprise.
Quoted by Britain’s The Independent, the colonel added that “the Russians entered areas where our defenses were weak and unready. These are places close to the border, within artillery range, where it was very difficult and dangerous to build defensive lines.” This is also the official line of explanation from Kiev, often quoted by Ukrainian media.
Kharkiv Region Governor Oleh Synehubov also spoke for local television. “The enemy is trying to deliberately stretch the front line, attacking in many places simultaneously, but in small groups. In addition, this is happening in new directions, so to speak.” He assessed that “the situation is difficult.”
Some of the areas currently being fought over were liberated from Russian occupation as a result of a successful Ukrainian offensive in the fall of 2022. Some commanders resent the central authorities for not sufficiently fortifying the area since then. It is unclear if it is related to these decisions, but Kiev announced Monday a change in the commander of the northeastern front line near Kharkiv.
What forces did Russia attack Vovchansk with?
A colonel interviewed by Askold Krushelnycky reported that about five battalions of Russian troops, or no more than 3,000 men, took part in the assault, which began on the night of May 9-10. They were supported by tanks and other armored vehicles, with additional FAB glide bombs coming from Russian territory. Moscow also used fighter jets and helicopters.
Ukrainian and Western sources say that Russian forces stretched over an area of about 5 by 10 kilometers and seized at least six villages: Strilecha, Krasne, Borisovka, Zelene, Ohircewe and Hatyshche.
Vovchansk – one of the cities liberated from Russian occupation in 2022 – has again become the center of fierce fighting. The Ukrainian Army General Staff acknowledged that some Russian troops had penetrated the eastern areas of the city. Ukrainian sources say Putin’s soldiers are trapped in one of the factories. Their evacuation and supply routes are to be cut off.
Many analysts, including specialists at the U.S. Institute for the Study of War, say the Russians have gathered too few forces to attack Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv. Moscow’s current goal is to consolidate the so-called new “gray zone,” or no-man’s land, a buffer strip that already effectively exists along much of the border between Russia and the Ukrainian regions of Sumy and Kharkiv.
Protect Kharkiv from artillery
One of the most important tasks for Ukraine now is to prevent the Russians from coming within artillery range of the city. The distance from the front is now about 30 kilometers. “Kharkiv is attacked by drones and missiles every day anyway, but if the Russians were close enough to use artillery, it would be a disaster for Kharkiv,” – The colonel, quoted by The Independent, added.
Moscow has made it clear that it will either occupy Kharkiv – the first attempt at an initial invasion in 2022 ended in Russian defeat – or it will bring the city to ruin to the point where most of its one million residents will flee and Kharkiv will be a ghost town, uninhabitable.
The ongoing attack on border areas has left many villages deserted. Thousands of refugees are flowing into Kharkiv again, putting even more strain on the already overburdened social welfare, medical care, or housing market.
What’s happening near Kharkov is one thing….
Kiev believes Russia wants to create a 15-kilometer buffer zone on the Ukrainian side of the border to bolster Belgorod’s defenses. In addition, it is likely that Moscow will also try to keep the territories as a bargaining chip in any future peace talks.
No one in Ukraine also doubts that what is happening near Kharkiv, i.e., the opening of a new front in the Kharkiv region, is Russia’s way of drawing Ukrainian forces away from other attacked areas of the country, particularly the Luhansk and Donetsk regions and the Zaporizhia region.
Moscow has already captured most of Donbass, and the Kremlin has said for several months that it has a plan to take full control of the entire Luhansk and Donetsk regions in 2024.
Without a gun, you won’t make it
Ukrainian forces are not helped in the current situation by inadequate and slow supplies of key weapons and ammunition. One can see a huge hole caused by months of delays in military aid from the US. Although multibillion-dollar support for Ukraine from the U.S. Congress has been approved in recent weeks, it is flowing to the front line in a weak trickle. Russia is trying to take advantage of this, and time is playing in Moscow’s favor.
While initiating attacks in the Kharkiv region, the Russians did not at the same time relieve the pressure on Czasiv Yar near Bakhmut, nor on other areas of the Donetsk region, among others near Avdiyivka, Marinka, or Vuhledar.
Text Editor: Piotr Kaszuwara
