Russia is trying to break the Ukrainian defense line in Kharkiv region / Article

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine informed that on the night of Friday, the occupiers attacked Ukrainian defenses in the direction of Vovchansk, Kharkiv region, with guided aerial bombs.

There was also intense artillery fire, but around five o’clock in the morning, the enemy tried to break through the defense line under the cover of armored vehicles. These attacks have now been repulsed, but fighting of varying intensity continues.

Additional forces have been sent to the Kharkiv region to strengthen the defense. The Ukrainian army continues to hold the offensive of the invader.

“Russia has launched a new wave of attacks in this direction. Ukraine met them there with our troops, brigades and artillery. It is important that they [Krievija] can attract additional forces in that direction, that’s a fact, but our soldiers, the military leadership knew about it and planned their forces in such a way to meet the enemy with fire,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi.

Due to the fierce fighting, people are being evacuated from the vicinity of Vovchansk and Lipetskow – through the media, residents are increasingly addressed and invited to evacuate. Local authorities have developed routes to evacuate people and are indeed calling for people to leave the area.

Oleh Sinehubov, the head of Kharkiv district administration, said on Friday afternoon that people have responded and now there is more interest in leaving than usual.

The official also said that the occupying troops intensified the firing fronts in the northern direction – first of all, directing them in the direction of Vovchansk. But the official claimed that the Ukrainian armed forces are holding the defense.

“All the attacks have been repulsed. No losses of territory have been allowed. Its border settlements are actually one or two kilometers from the Russian border. At the moment, there is active warfare there, so in that direction – considering that the enemy is only targeting civilian infrastructure – we call on people to evacuate ,” said Sinehubov.

He also expressed that the Russian army does not currently pose a threat to the city of Kharkiv – the invader’s forces are only sufficient for provocation in the northern direction.

Ukrainian officials have previously warned that a Russian invasion could begin in late May or early June.

On the other hand, the US-based think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has just reported that over the last month, Russia has significantly intensified its ground attacks in eastern Ukraine, which suggests that the invader is trying to succeed faster, until Western help reaches the front.

The intensity of attacks has also increased significantly in other directions of the front. As Lt. Col. Nazars Voloshins, representative of the “Hortica” armed forces of Ukraine, reported on Thursday, the battles on the eastern front have become significantly more intense these days. Namely, if on May 8, 84 clashes with the invader were recorded in this part of the front, then on May 9 this number almost doubled.

The British Ministry of Defense also reported on the increase in fighting intensity. It estimated that from March to April, the number of Russian attacks on the Ukrainian front increased by 17%, and most of them were in the direction of Chasivyar, Avdiyivka and Marinka.

Chasivjara has experienced especially many attacks – from March to April, the number of attacks on it increased by 200%, according to the British Ministry of Defence.

However, despite these very heavy attacks, this settlement is still under Ukrainian control.

“The situation remains the same. The enemy attacks several times a day. (..) We see mostly infantry attacks. The enemy simply does not tell his people that there are defenders in our positions. They say that the positions are empty and send them almost always in the same direction,” said Chasivjarās Oleksiy Tarasenko, the currently serving deputy commander of the second battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. “However, at the moment there is no advance of the enemy, the front line plus or minus has stabilized and apparently there is no immediate threat to Chasivjara at the moment.”

The situation has stabilized in Chasivyar, but it has become more serious in the direction of Vovchansk, Kharkiv region. And it was a hard night not only in the north of this area near the border, but also in the city of Kharkiv itself, where Russia once again launched a rocket on Friday night and a series of residential houses were destroyed in the attack, there are two victims, including a child.

After the US decision to provide financial support to Ukraine, Ukrainian air defenses have become stronger, but there is still a lack of weapons to protect Kharkiv. Support will be needed in the future.

“You saw the effectiveness of air defense during the last massive attack, when the enemy used almost all possible air attack weapons – cruise missiles, guided missiles, Kalibr, which we had not seen for a long time, Shahed, and even aeroballistic missiles “Kinzhal” they used,” Ilya Yevlash, a representative of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said on Friday. “Of course, resources are never enough during such attacks, because unfortunately Ukraine does not yet produce such missiles and such systems and complexes, so we fully rely on our partners. They know our needs, they know how much we have and what we still need is needed.”

It has already been reported that strong explosions were heard in Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions last night. 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.

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.