Fighting in Ukraine escalates as kyiv launches its counter-offensive

KRAMATORSK, Ukraine (AP)-Ukrainian soldiers seeking to disperse Russian forces launched a counter-offensive Sunday in Kherson, the main city in the south that Moscow considers too safe under its control so ‘ t it introduced the ruble.

Ukraine’s offensive in Kherson came as its forces desperately resisted to thwart Russia’s efforts to seize and isolate a strategic strip of eastern Ukraine that was the center of Moscow’s war effort, and had the impact of expand the battlefield.

The opening of the new facade underlined that, when it comes to territory in Ukraine, little can be maintained as each side attempts to exploit the changing strategic weakness of the enemy.

That volatility only promises to increase as Ukraine adopts more sophisticated long -term artillery and soon, possibly, US missiles.

On Sunday, the chief Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, which requested these weapons, searched strengthen morale visiting the northeast of the country, near Kharkiv, which is still under bombing.

He praised the Ukrainian forces there for their success this month in pushing back the Russians from the outskirts of the city, saying in a speech on Sunday night that “Kharkiv has suffered horrific blows from the conqueror. “

The city, which has endured months of lawsuits that have killed many civilians and forced thousands to flee, is attacked again a few hours later of the Ukrainian president to leave, according to Reuters.

But in the long run, Zelensky said on Sunday night, it was Russia will pay the price.

“Russia has lost not only the battle for Kharkiv, not only the battle for kyiv and the north of our country,” he said.

“He lost his own future and any cultural link with the free world. They were all burned. “

The announcement of the Ukrainian counteroffensive:

“Come on, Kherson, we are coming! ”the army said Sunday morning on Twitter, indicating what could be a new chapter in a war with political, economic and humanitarian importance far from the borders of Ukraine.

Kherson, a port city in the agricultural heartland of Ukraine, is the first big city to fall when Russian forces took over northern Crimea more than three months ago.

After seizing it, Moscow used the city as a venue for operations in southern Ukraine.

But in recent weeks, Russian forces, which have shrunk and suffered heavy losses as they gained ground in the eastern Donbas region, have concentrated efforts in the south to strengthen defensive positions.

Satellite images showed the Russians struggling to build fortifications in Kherson, where an insurgency broke out this month.

It is not clear if they are prepared for Ukrainian counterattack.

The Ukrainian military headquarters said in a statement that its forces had hacked into a Russian defense line and pushed the Russians into less favorable terrain near the villages of Andriyivka, Lozove and Belihorka. .

The counter-offensive threat also targeted Russia’s supply routes on bridges over the Dnipro River.

Ukraine has been telegraphing a counter-offensive for several days, although it said such a move would require Western artillery systems promised by the United States and other allies.

It was unclear on Sunday which artillery Ukraine was using in its counter-offensive.

In a war that is increasingly becoming an arms race, powerful American-made howitzers have reached Ukrainian forces this month, and Ukrainian troops have recently received anti-ship cruise missiles. harpoon from Denmark.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said they would be used to try to break Russia’s blockade of the Black Sea and protect the port city of Odessa.

The Biden administration has also approved the deployment of long-range mass launch rocket systems to Ukraine, a significant move that could help its defense.

With any hardware at hand, Ukraine appeared to have sent a message to Russia on Sunday that it would not just play defense on a battleground chosen by Russia.

Instead, Ukraine appears to have redrawn the map to include areas where Russian forces are depleted and hit. buried in defensive positions.

Russia, after failing to capture kyiv, the capital, and Kharkiv has reduced its focus to the 120km eastern front line in the thin eastern Donbas region.

It devoted most of its forces to attacking eastern Ukraine and capturing Sievierodonetsk, the last Ukrainian-controlled city in the Luhansk region, which is now at the center of the fighting.

Zelensky described the conditions in Sievierodonetsk over the weekend as “indescribably difficult”.

Ukrainians call the route to the city from the west the “road of life” because it is the only way of resupplying their soldiers there.

Russia tried to cut that path, and social media posts of burning Russian armored vehicles on the road indicate they did so even moments before being pushed back.

Ukrainian military officials posted on Sunday night on Facebook that Russia was “trying to gain a foothold in the northeastern suburb of Sievierodonetsk, conducting attack operations in the direction of city ​​center. “

Used by Russia long range artillery to submit to target cities from afar before turning around and biting into territory.

there is Russia thermobaric warheadsa frightening common weapon with a nickname Waves of heatwhich sends shock waves into bunkers and trenches.

He also claims to have successfully tested a Zircon hypersonic cruise missile from the Barents Sea to a target more than 1,000 kilometers away.

Hypersonic weapons, commonly referred to as those capable of flying at speeds in excess of Mach 5, five times the speed of sound, are at the center of an arms race between the US, Russia and China.

As tactics, objectives, and weapons change in combat, a constant is the value of man.

The Ukrainian military said on Sunday that Moscow had ordered the hospitals crimea na stop caring for civilians to care for wounded soldiers.

The claim cannot be independently verified.

Amid the loss of life and the destruction of civil society, European leaders once again called for a ceasefire.

President From Russia Vladimir Putin he said in a Kremlin statement that he was “open to renewing dialogue in kyiv.”

The statement described a call he made on Saturday to the leaders of France and Germany.

According to the Kremlin, Putin said the delivery of weapons to the West could lead to “further destabilization of the situation,” and changed his request that the West lift sanctions against Russia to facilitate food exports and fertilizer.

President Emmanuel Macron of France and of the Foreign Minister Olaf Scholz Germany has said any resolution to the war must be negotiated between Moscow and kyiv “with respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” according to a statement from the French president’s office.

But Mykhaylo Podolyak, an aide to the Ukrainian president and envoy to the peace talks earlier in the conflict months, said in a Telegram post over the weekend that he was unreliable in Russia.

“Any deal with Russia is not worth a broken penny,” Podolyak wrote.

Until Russian troops withdrew from Ukraine, he said, “negotiations were conducted by a separate ‘delegation’ on the front line.”

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