The Russian army breaks through to Kharkov

The Armed Forces are called the situation of “critical” and are waiting for the supply of the F-16. This attack may force Ukraine to start negotiations

The Russian army opened a new front in the Kharkov region and quickly moves deep into the Ukrainian territories, the control over which was recently regained the APU. Ukrainian intelligence calls the situation critical, and the ordinary military seriously admit that this stage of the war will become decisive - the capture of Kharkov can undermine the faith of the West into the combat effectiveness of Ukraine, and he will force the Ukrainian authorities to sit at the negotiating table. Ukraine is trying to prevent the breakthrough of the Russian troops, but suffers from a shortage of people and ammunition. The epicenter of the battle was Volchansk-once a 17,000th city near the border, which is now turning into a “second bakhmut”. "Cold" tells what is happening in the Kharkov region.

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On the night of May 10, Russian troops began a massive offensive in the Kharkov region. On the very first day, the military captured four border villages: Strelchia, Red, Dusty and Borisovka (on the map of the Ukrainian analytical project Deepstate, these settlements are noted as occupied). In the first two days of the offensive, Russian troops captured at least nine settlements. Now the Armed Forces of Ukraine are trying to prevent the seizure of a large village of Liptsi, which is located on the way from the border with Russia to Kharkov.

According to military experts, Russia opened a new front to distract the attention of Ukrainian troops from hostilities in the Donetsk region and begin to form a 10-kilometer buffer zone near the border for further preparation of the attack on Kharkov. The Ukrainian side of the risks of attacks on Kharkov does not yet see. The Council of National Security and Defense (NSDC) of Ukraine suggests that there is no threat of attacking the city, although, according to the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Aleksndra Litvinenko, “there are a lot of Russians [in the region]” and they significantly increased air strikes.

The Ukrainian military leadership admits that the situation in the region is complicated. The head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) of Ukraine Kirill Budanov completely called it the “critical” for the Armed Forces. According to him, the Ukrainian army does not have enough resources to reflect the Russian offensive. Now Russia is trying to force the military command of Ukraine to transfer troops from the Donetsk region - and so far this tactic is successful.

“All our forces are either here or in an hourly fierce. I used everything we have. Unfortunately, we no longer have anyone in reserve, ”said Budanov.

He suggested that Russia could begin a new offensive in the Sumy region north of Kharkov and will try to break through the front from the city of Sudzha in the Kursk region.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) also believes that now Russian troops do not intend to seize Kharkov: there are about 50 thousand military in the region-this resource is not enough for hostilities in the millionaire city.

The authorities of Kharkov, meanwhile, are preparing for a Russian attack: on the outskirts they are erecting fortifications, and in order to be able to continue peaceful life, they opened the first bunker school, which can accommodate up to 900 students in two shifts.

The second occupation

The most strongly from the Russian offensive and shelling in the Kharkov region is Volchansk, located five kilometers from the border with Russia, in which 17 thousand people lived before a full -scale invasion. According to the head of the Kharkiv region, Vladimir Timoshko, in the first three days since the beginning of the offensive, Volchansk suffered stronger than all the time since 2022. Russian troops use self -destructive drones, as well as air strikes in the city.

“This is a bomb weighing 250, or even 500 kilograms, which can demolish a multi -storey building. In a sense, Volchansk turns into [the city destroyed by the Russian army] Bakhmut or Maryinka, ”said Timoshko.

The Russians, according to Timoshko, use the tactics of “scorched land” - at first they can be fired in a massive territory, and only then come to it. Now the Russian military has approached the northwestern border of the city and are located along the Seversky Donets River.

The new attacks of the Russian army on Volchansk began in the fall of 2023, but from May 10 shells and missile strikes became daily. The troops of the Russian Federation are shelling bridges in the city area to cut the supply routes for the Armed Forces and isolate this area of ​​the Kharkov region. According to military experts, so far Russia is not able to break through the defense of the Ukrainian army in this direction.

Residents of Volchansk are evacuated on armored vehicles. The 70-year-old spouses Nikolai and Lyubov Bondarenko left Volchansk, taking only an eight-year-old Kesha parrot. They say that they will not be able to survive the new Russian occupation. However, the day before the evacuation, the Bondarenko's wife spent the night on the stairwell, so they do not see the option for themselves.

“I was born here, baptized. I want to cry, my soul hurts, ”said 70-year-old Katerina Ephemets, who lived in Volchansk all her life, and now forced to leave her house.

From the beginning of the Russian offensive, Volchansk left more than six thousand people. According to the evacuated ones, now the situation in the city is worse than it was during the first occupation in 2022 (then Volchansk was under the control of Russian troops for more than six months - the Armed Forces of Ukraine was released in September). A resident of Volchansk Anastasia Kondratenko in a conversation with reporters described the situation in the city as "there is just hell." Almost all evacuated are brought to Kharkov, who also suffers from shelling.

Waiting for F-16

The Ukrainian army suffers from a lack of personnel and weapons. From May 18, a new law on mobilization comes into force in Ukraine, which tightens the punishment for the deviators and obliges all the military personnel to update their data. The US military aid package in the amount of $ 61 billion was approved in April, but some of the weapons have not yet reached Ukraine.

The Ukrainian military has special hope on F-16 fighters, which Europe promises to put for several months. According to one of the army commanders, Normal Aviation will help to shoot down Russian aircraft in the air, and the Russian troops will no longer have the opportunity to discard guided bombs to the settlements and the city of Ukraine.

Some Ukrainian military believe that the Russian offensive in the Kharkov region may be a turning point in the war. In the case of Kharkov’s occupation, European countries can reduce military support to Ukraine and increase pressure on the country's government in order to persuade him to peace negotiations with Russia.

Meanwhile, on May 14, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived in Kiev, who met with President Vladimir Zelensky and other high -ranking officials. Details of the meeting were not disclosed, Blinken only stated that his visit “should show the support of Ukraine” by the United States.