At night, strong explosions in Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions; also strikes against Russia / Article

On the night of Friday, May 10, reports of strong explosions have come from Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions. The management of the city of Kharkiv informed that residential buildings were hit and a fire broke out. At least one person was injured.

The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russia fired ten Iranian-made Shahed drones at Ukraine, but managed to shoot them all down.

Also strikes against Russia

Meanwhile, Petro Andryushchenko, the vice-mayor of the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol, wrote on social networks on Thursday evening that there had been a successful hit on a Russian army base located in one of the city’s districts. Andryushchenko also posted photos showing huge plumes of smoke rising over Mariupol.

Ukraine has carried out another successful strike on Russian territory. A fire broke out at an oil refinery in the Kaluga region of western Russia at night. Local residents reported on social networks that the factory was attacked by drones.

On the other hand, four drones were shot down over Moscow and Bryansk regions last night, the local authorities announced. The mayor of Moscow, Sergej Sobyanin, informed that a drone flying in the direction of Moscow was shot down over the city of Podolsk.

But the governor of the Bryansk region, Aleksandr Bogomaz, announced that three drones had been destroyed over the region.

Analysts: War of positions at the front

The war of positions continues at the front in several directions, reports the US think tank “War Research Institute”. Russian forces are focusing on trying to capture the strategically important city of Chasivyar in the northeast of the Donetsk region.

Analysts of the “War Research Institute”, evaluating the actions of the Russian troops at the front in recent months, have concluded that the goal of the invaders is to achieve the greatest possible tactical success until the Ukrainian units receive the first supplies of weapons from Western countries.

Analysts in their report cite information provided by the UK Ministry of Defense that between March and April, the number of Russian attacks on the front increased by 17%, but more than 75% of the ground attacks were carried out in the directions of Chasivyar, Avdiyivka and Marjinka. From March to April, the number of Russian attacks directly in the direction of Chasivyar increased by 200%.

Plans for new help

The US Department of Defense announced that a new military aid package for Ukraine will be announced in the coming weeks.

But German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius informed during his visit to the USA that three more high-precision missile artillery systems “HIMARS” will be sent to Ukraine. The systems will come from US Army stocks but will be paid for by Germany.

“HIMARS” systems have helped the Ukrainian army to make precise hits on Russian ammunition depots far behind the front, as well as on Russian military bases in the occupied Crimean peninsula.

CONTEXT:

Russia’s unjustified and Kiev’s unprovoked large-scale invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022. The Kremlin’s propaganda brazenly promised to capture Kyiv in three days, but the selfless and strong resistance of the Ukrainians prevented the Kremlin from realizing its plans.

After the setbacks, the Kremlin withdrew the army from the Kyiv region, but continued the offensive in other regions. In the fall of 2022, the Ukrainian army managed to liberate Kharkiv region and part of Kherson region in successful operations, raising hopes for the possibility of defeating the enemy.

However, the Ukrainian counteroffensive launched in the summer of 2023 was not so successful, which the Ukrainian army explains both by the insufficient supply of weapons from the Western allies and by the deep defense line and extensive minefields created by the Russian army. Now there are reports that a war of positions has begun at the front with exhausting battles and preparations must be made for long-term support for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russia regularly attacks Ukrainian civilian objects and purposefully tries to destroy Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.