Kyiv, Ukraine, May 11, 2022 (AFP) – Pro-Russian officials in the Kherson (southern) Ukraine region, occupied by Moscow since March, announced that they would demand its annexation by Russia. According to Ukraine, it is losing land around Kharkiv in the northeast.
“There will be a request [ao presidente russo] “To make the Kherson region a full subject of the Russian Federation,” said Kirill Stremusov, deputy head of the civil-military administration of this region, which is located in the north of the Crimean peninsula and was annexed by Russia in 2014.
The conquest of Kherson, Moscow’s only real military success since the start of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, could allow the creation of a land bridge connecting Crimea, the pro-Russian separatist Donetsk region (in the Donbass) and Russian territory. .
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said it was up to residents of the Kherson region to decide whether to make a request from Putin, a possibility considered absurd by the Ukrainian authorities.
“The invaders may even want to unite Mars or Jupiter, but the Ukrainian army will free Kherson,” said Mikhailo Podoliak, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
US intelligence services believe Putin intends to establish a land link from Crimea to Transnistria, the Russian-controlled territory in Moldova.
This route through Kherson also represents the total conquest of Mariupol in the Sea of Azov, where about a thousand Ukrainian soldiers settled in the kilometer-long tunnels of the Azovstal steelworks.
Counter-offensive in Kharkov
After the failed attempt to take the Ukrainian capital Kiev, Russia wants to consolidate its territorial conquests in the southeast and expand its offensive in the Donbass (eastern) region.
“They’re coming in waves,” said Mykola, a volunteer fighter, referring to the Russians’ repeated attempts to push south along a river near the rural settlement of Bilogorivka.
Further north, Kyiv authorities announced that they had liberated four villages near the important city of Kharkov.
“The occupiers are being gradually expelled,” said President Zelensky.
The northern and northeastern areas of Kharkov, which had a population of about 1.5 million before the war, have been bombarded with Russian rockets for weeks.
Kievan Rus was nearly empty after the invasion began, but nearly two-thirds of its 3.5 million population has since returned, the capital’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Tuesday.
Immediate Armistice “No Chance”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who recently met with Putin, considered it important to maintain communication with Russia, although there is currently “no possibility of an immediate peace agreement or ceasefire.”
“This war won’t last forever,” he said, “and if we want to solve a problem, we have to discuss who caused it or who can solve it.”
Conflicts in the east appear to affect Russian gas supplies passing through Ukraine for the first time, fueling fears that a Russian invasion will trigger a serious energy crisis in Europe.
Ukrainian gas pipeline operator GTSOU claimed that Russian state energy giant Gazprom “could not supply gas” at the Sokhranivka crossing point due to Russian military intervention.
According to Naftogaz, the volume of gas passing through this region represents one-third of the total passing through Ukraine to Europe.
Gazprom denied any reason for the Ukrainian operator to declare “force majeure” and said it was impossible to redirect all supplies.
You said
The invasion of Ukraine prompted Sweden and Finland to consider joining NATO despite Russia’s warnings.
“NATO membership will not be against anyone,” said Finnish President Sauli Niinistö.
In addition, Sweden and Finland signed mutual defense and protection agreements with the United Kingdom in case of aggression.
Ukraine is pressing Western countries for more military support.
Czech President Milos Zeman, who was a close ally of Putin before the war, authorized 103 Czech citizens to fight in Ukraine to support Kyiv forces.
In the US, the House of Representatives approved a nearly $40 billion aid package to Ukraine on Tuesday night.
The text, which includes weapons and ammunition, as well as an economic and humanitarian component, is yet to be voted on by the Senate shortly before it is passed into law by President Joe Biden.
source: Noticias
