Ukraine admits to having withdrawn soldiers and vehicles from several settlements in the Kharkiv region, in the north-east of the country, under the pressure of Russia’s attacks. The situation on the ground, on the third front of the war opened by Moscow’s troops who crossed the border to the north on Friday last week, is worsening so much that President Volodymir Zelensky, for whom “the most difficult situation” is now in the Kharkiv regions and Donetsk, canceled a visit to Spain and Portugal.
Kiev’s announcement
“In some areas, around Lukyantsi and Vovchansk – two settlements 30 kilometers away, and close to the border with Russia – in response to enemy fire and assaults by ground forces, to save the lives of our men and avoid losses, our units carried out maneuvers and moved to more advantageous positions,” the Ukrainian General Staff announced overnight, using the formula used by both sides in this war to confirm a withdrawal. The situation, it is specified, “remains difficult” but Kiev’s forces “are not letting the Russian occupiers gain a foothold”.
The situation on the field
Russian forces managed to penetrate, in two different directions, 5-7 kilometers into the Kharkiv region and to take control of Ukrainian Border Guard posts, despite reinforcements from the Intelligence Directorate (HUR) sent in the meantime. Moscow also claims control of several settlements near the border and has managed to enter the cities of Vovchansk and Lyptsi.
“The fighting is heavy,” admitted General Serhii Melnyk, the commander of the Kharkiv defense forces, specifying that the fighting is “in three different places”. Ukrainian forces have repelled eleven attacks and are containing the advance of Russian forces “towards Lyptsi from Hlyboke and Lukiantsi, and towards Vovchansk from the direction of Shebekino (Russia),” Melnyk said. Yesterday an air raid hit the city of Kharkiv, causing the death of a civilian, an 80-year-old woman, the wounding of 24 people, including four children and damage to residential buildings. Another person was killed in Hatyshche.
The Moscow version
Moscow announced that it had taken control of Buhrovatka, also in the Kharkiv region. To confirm the seriousness of the situation in the Kharkiv region, almost 8 thousand civilians have abandoned the population centers in the face of the Russian advance, four hundred of them in the last 24 hours, as announced by the regional governor Oleg Sinegubov: on Telegram Sinegubov spoke of 7,991 people forced to abandon their homes, including over 600 children. Most of these people left areas of northern Kharkiv, 1,100 from Vovchansk.
Meanwhile, Russian air defense forces have intercepted 17 Ukrainian drones, in the western regions of the country, Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk, and 10 American-made Atacms missiles on Crimea during the night, the Russian Defense Ministry announced. Following the attack of a drone shot down over Tatartan, which is one thousand kilometers away from the border with Ukraine, airports were temporarily closed in the Russian region, in Kazan and Nizhnekamsk. A fuel depot exploded following an attack by two drones in Rostov, the city where the headquarters of the special military operation is based, as announced by the governor of the region, Vasily Golubev.
Zelensky cancels trips abroad
Zelensky therefore canceled his mission abroad at the last moment: on Friday he was supposed to attend a reception organized in his honor by King Felipe of Spain. He should have signed a bilateral security agreement with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on the model of the agreements already signed with Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Denmark and Canada. A spokesperson for the Portuguese government confirmed the cancellation of the visit, but without specifying the reason.
State television instead cited the serious internal situation in Ukraine, with the new Russian offensive in Kharkiv. Although Zelensky had already been to Granada for an EU summit, his visit would have been his first in Spain. Around midnight yesterday, the Zarzuela Palace, the King’s private residence in Madrid, announced the cancellation of Zelensky’s commitments, announced only a few hours earlier, “generating a bit of confusion”, as Pais wrote, since neither the government nor the Foreign Ministry had yet officially confirmed the visit.
