by Jonathan Landay
KHARKIV, Ukraine (Reuters) – Ukraine said on Tuesday that its forces are advancing in a counterattack that could signal a shift in the war pendulum and derail the war, retaking villages controlled by Russian troops north and northeast of Kharkov. The main breakthrough of Russia.
Tetiana Apachenko, press officer of the 92nd Separate Mechanized Brigade, the main Ukrainian force in the region, confirmed that Ukrainian troops had recently recaptured the settlements of Cherkaski Tyshky, Ruski Tyshki, Borshchova and Slobozhanske in a pocket north of Kharkiv.
These victories have distanced Russian forces from Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city in the northeast of the country, which has been the target of sustained bombings since the beginning of the war, Defense Ministry adviser Yuriy Sais said.
“The military operations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kharkov region, especially in the north and northeast of Kharkov, are like a success story,” Saks told Reuters. ?The Ukrainian army managed to push these war criminals to a line beyond the range of their guns?
In Washington, US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said that Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be preparing for a prolonged confrontation. A Russian victory in the eastern Donbass region may not end the war, he said.
The head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency said the war was at a stalemate.
But the counteroffensive near Kharkiv could mark a new stage, with Ukraine now taking an aggressive stance, after weeks in which Russia led a full-scale offensive but failed to make any significant progress.
The Ukrainians are approaching the distance needed to hit the rear supply lines that have been feeding Russia’s southernmost main offensive force, pushing back the Russian forces that have occupied the slums of Kharkov since the beginning of the invasion.
CHALLENGES
Since Russia was forced to abandon an offensive on the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, in late March, its main forces are trying to encircle the Ukrainian troops in the Donbass, using the city of Izyum, south of Kharkov, as a base. Ukrainian troops have so far resisted attacks from three directions.
But Ukraine could react closely to Kharkiv, forcing Moscow to defend its long supply lines to Izyum. Western military analysts say there are signs that the counterattack is already hindering Russia’s advance.
In the south, Russian forces again struck the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol on Tuesday, trying to take the last stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in the city, which Ukraine says tens of thousands died during the two-month siege and bombing by the Russians. .
According to the UN, which says it is the fastest growing refugee crisis since World War II, the number of Ukrainians fleeing the country since the February 24 invasion of Russia was approaching 6 million.
(Additional reporting by Tom Balmforth in Kiev)
source: Noticias
