KYIV: Just a few hundred residents stay within the embattled city of Vovchansk in northeast Ukraine, the place Kyiv‘s troops are locked in intense battles with the Russian military, in line with native officers on Monday.
The city, whose pre-war inhabitants of 17,000 had dwindled to only 2,500 earlier than Russia renewed its floor assault final week, has emerged as focus level as pitched battles engulf the Kharkiv and Donetsk areas.
Ukrainian native officers mentioned they feared Vovchansk’s destiny might mirror that of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, Ukrainian cities the place fierce preventing and scorched earth ways compelled Ukrainian withdrawals. Solely 200-300 folks stay within the city, Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Suniehubov mentioned, as Moscow’s troops advance in an effort to encompass it from three instructions.
Poorly constructed fortifications and enduring ammunition shortages enabled Russia’s sweeping advance within the space final week, native officers and troopers mentioned.
Within the span of two days, Moscow has captured some 106 sq. kilometers (40 sq. miles) not less than seven villages, most of them already depopulated, in line with the open supply monitoring venture DeepState. It’s a important advance that would pin Ukrainian forces within the northeast whereas heavy preventing continues within the Donetsk area.
On Monday, Ukrainian troops had been nonetheless locked in pitched battles in each areas, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned. Preventing is going down close to the border in jap and northeastern Ukraine as outgunned and outnumbered Ukrainian troopers attempt to maintain again a big Russian floor offensive.
“Defensive battles are ongoing, fierce battles, on a big a part of our border space,” Zelenskyy mentioned in his nightly video handle Sunday.
The brand new Russian push within the northeastern Kharkiv area, together with the continuing drive into the jap Donetsk area, come after months when the roughly 1,000-kilometer entrance line barely budged. Within the meantime, either side have used long-range strikes to pursue what turned largely a conflict of attrition.
Ukraine’s common employees mentioned late Sunday that Russian forces had carried out not less than 22 assaults over the earlier 24 hours in two components of the Kharkiv area and had “tactical success.” The assertion didn’t elaborate.
The Kharkiv incursion serves seemingly three functions for Russia. First, the northeast operation will pin Ukrainian forces within the area and doubtlessly attract valuable reserves away from heavy battles within the Avdiivka and Chasiv Yar areas of the Donetsk area, the place Russia’s advance has been much more important and strategically vital.
Zelenskyy mentioned preventing within the Donetsk space is “no much less intense” than in Kharkiv. He mentioned the Kremlin aimed to “unfold our forces skinny” by opening a second lively entrance in Kharkiv.
Zelenskyy described the realm round Pokrovsk area, simply contained in the Ukrainian border in Donetsk, as “essentially the most tough.”
Pokrovsk was a city of round 60,000 folks earlier than the conflict and was till not too long ago a two-hour drive from the entrance line. Now it’s lower than half that.
The seize of the Donetsk metropolis of Avdiivka in February opened a door for the Kremlin’s troops to push westward, deeper into Donetsk. Russia illegally annexed Donetsk and three different areas in 2022 shortly after it invaded Ukraine, and taking management of all of Donetsk is likely one of the Kremlin’s predominant conflict objectives.
Second, if Ukraine is not in a position to halt Moscow’s advance, it may create future situations for a potential assault on Kharkiv Metropolis, Ukraine’s second largest.
Lastly, it may create a “buffer zone” to guard Belgorod, the place frequent Ukrainian assaults have embarrassed the Kremlin. In March, Russia introduced plans to evacuate about 9,000 kids from the Belgorod area as a result of it was being shelled repeatedly.
Russian emergency providers on Monday completed clearing the rubble within the area’s capital metropolis of Belgorod, the place a bit of a residential constructing collapsed following what authorities mentioned was Ukrainian shelling.
Fifteen our bodies had been pulled from the rubble, Belgorod regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov mentioned, and 27 different folks had been wounded.
One other three folks within the metropolis of Belgorod had been killed by shelling late Sunday, he mentioned.
Yevgeny Poddubny, a normally well-connected navy correspondent for Russia’s state TV company VGTRK, mentioned in a current Telegram submit that the Kharkiv assault marked the start of “a brand new section.”
“We’re pushing the enemy again from the border, destroying the enemy so as to deprive the Kyiv regime of the chance to make use of comparatively low-cost rockets to assault Belgorod,” he mentioned.
The city, whose pre-war inhabitants of 17,000 had dwindled to only 2,500 earlier than Russia renewed its floor assault final week, has emerged as focus level as pitched battles engulf the Kharkiv and Donetsk areas.
Ukrainian native officers mentioned they feared Vovchansk’s destiny might mirror that of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, Ukrainian cities the place fierce preventing and scorched earth ways compelled Ukrainian withdrawals. Solely 200-300 folks stay within the city, Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Suniehubov mentioned, as Moscow’s troops advance in an effort to encompass it from three instructions.
Poorly constructed fortifications and enduring ammunition shortages enabled Russia’s sweeping advance within the space final week, native officers and troopers mentioned.
Within the span of two days, Moscow has captured some 106 sq. kilometers (40 sq. miles) not less than seven villages, most of them already depopulated, in line with the open supply monitoring venture DeepState. It’s a important advance that would pin Ukrainian forces within the northeast whereas heavy preventing continues within the Donetsk area.
On Monday, Ukrainian troops had been nonetheless locked in pitched battles in each areas, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned. Preventing is going down close to the border in jap and northeastern Ukraine as outgunned and outnumbered Ukrainian troopers attempt to maintain again a big Russian floor offensive.
“Defensive battles are ongoing, fierce battles, on a big a part of our border space,” Zelenskyy mentioned in his nightly video handle Sunday.
The brand new Russian push within the northeastern Kharkiv area, together with the continuing drive into the jap Donetsk area, come after months when the roughly 1,000-kilometer entrance line barely budged. Within the meantime, either side have used long-range strikes to pursue what turned largely a conflict of attrition.
Ukraine’s common employees mentioned late Sunday that Russian forces had carried out not less than 22 assaults over the earlier 24 hours in two components of the Kharkiv area and had “tactical success.” The assertion didn’t elaborate.
The Kharkiv incursion serves seemingly three functions for Russia. First, the northeast operation will pin Ukrainian forces within the area and doubtlessly attract valuable reserves away from heavy battles within the Avdiivka and Chasiv Yar areas of the Donetsk area, the place Russia’s advance has been much more important and strategically vital.
Zelenskyy mentioned preventing within the Donetsk space is “no much less intense” than in Kharkiv. He mentioned the Kremlin aimed to “unfold our forces skinny” by opening a second lively entrance in Kharkiv.
Zelenskyy described the realm round Pokrovsk area, simply contained in the Ukrainian border in Donetsk, as “essentially the most tough.”
Pokrovsk was a city of round 60,000 folks earlier than the conflict and was till not too long ago a two-hour drive from the entrance line. Now it’s lower than half that.
The seize of the Donetsk metropolis of Avdiivka in February opened a door for the Kremlin’s troops to push westward, deeper into Donetsk. Russia illegally annexed Donetsk and three different areas in 2022 shortly after it invaded Ukraine, and taking management of all of Donetsk is likely one of the Kremlin’s predominant conflict objectives.
Second, if Ukraine is not in a position to halt Moscow’s advance, it may create future situations for a potential assault on Kharkiv Metropolis, Ukraine’s second largest.
Lastly, it may create a “buffer zone” to guard Belgorod, the place frequent Ukrainian assaults have embarrassed the Kremlin. In March, Russia introduced plans to evacuate about 9,000 kids from the Belgorod area as a result of it was being shelled repeatedly.
Russian emergency providers on Monday completed clearing the rubble within the area’s capital metropolis of Belgorod, the place a bit of a residential constructing collapsed following what authorities mentioned was Ukrainian shelling.
Fifteen our bodies had been pulled from the rubble, Belgorod regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov mentioned, and 27 different folks had been wounded.
One other three folks within the metropolis of Belgorod had been killed by shelling late Sunday, he mentioned.
Yevgeny Poddubny, a normally well-connected navy correspondent for Russia’s state TV company VGTRK, mentioned in a current Telegram submit that the Kharkiv assault marked the start of “a brand new section.”
“We’re pushing the enemy again from the border, destroying the enemy so as to deprive the Kyiv regime of the chance to make use of comparatively low-cost rockets to assault Belgorod,” he mentioned.
