War: Ukrainian troops advance on Russia’s border and Moscow encounters diplomatic and military obstacles

with her army falling into battle in eastern Ukraine, Russia lost diplomatic ground over the weekend after two other European countries took clear steps to get closer to NATO.

Ukrainian troops counterattacked near the northeastern city of Kharkov (or Kharkiv) landed on the border with Russiaannounced the regional governor on Monday.

The troops returned a ukrainian sign marking the border, says Oleh Sinegubov, during a video. which was also released Monday, aims to show soldiers at the border.

Ukrainian forces have recaptured territory in northeastern areas in recent days, while Russian forces they are concentrated in the Donbas region, further south.

Finland announced its intention to join the military alliance on Sunday, saying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nearly three months ago changed the continent’s security landscape. The two countries share a land boundary of 1,340 kilometers (830 miles), in addition to the Gulf of Finland.

A few hours later, the ruling party in Sweden supported the entry into the country, which could lead to a formal request in the coming days.

Such measures would be a serious setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who called the organization’s expansion into Eastern Europe a threat and cited it as a reason to attack Ukraine. NATO, for its part, maintains that it is a concentrated defensive alliance.

Putin’s reaction

Entry into NATO of Sweden and Finland does not represent “a direct threat for us (…) but the expansion of military infrastructure in these territories will certainly develop answer usPutin said at a televised meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

This Moscow-led alliance brings together countries from the former Soviet Union and includes, in addition to Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

“It’s a problem that’s completely artificially created because this is done in the interest of the United States“said the president of Russia, adding that NATO has become” an instrument of a country’s foreign policy “.

Putin added that “all this exacerbates an international situation that is already difficult“.

At a meeting with NATO diplomats in Berlin, its secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said that, on the ground, the offensive “doesn’t go as planned by Moscow.”

“Ukraine can win this war,” he added, noting that NATO will continue to offer military support to kyiv.

Belarus has deployed forces

Separately, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said on Monday that Belarus, a close ally of Moscow, assigned its special operations forces to its border with Ukraineas well as air force, artillery and missile units in training centers in the west.

According to the British report on the war, Belarusian forces were not directly involved in the invasion of Ukraine, although the country was used as a presentation venue for Russian attacks on the cities of kyiv and Chernikov. In addition, Russian planes and missiles flew from there.

The presence of Belarusian forces on the border may force kyiv to stay in place, they are prevented from traveling to support operations in the eastern region of the Donbas, the country’s industrial center, he said.

Russians and Ukrainians have been fighting people-to-people for control of the Donbas, where the Ukrainian army has been fighting pro-Russian separatists for eight years.

“We are preparing for new Russian offensives in the Donbas“, who wants to” strengthen its advance towards southern Ukraine, “said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a video released Sunday night.

According to an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, the Russians are moving troops from the Kharkov region in the north to Lugansk, which together with Donetsk forms the Donbas.

The Ukrainian General Staff said on Monday that Moscow troops focus on “handling positions and prevent the advance of our troops towards the border ”.

It is very difficult to get a clear overview of the battle in the East because of strict travel restrictions imposed by both sides and the danger they posed frequent air and artillery attacks.

According to the Ukrainian army, Russia has focused its latest attacks on the Donbas, attacking civilian and military targets in different locations.

With information from the AFP and AP

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