Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that Moscow’s military was gathering for a new ground offensive in northeastern Ukraine, a day after a Russian missile attack on a hardware supermarket in the city of Kharkiv killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens, according to Ukrainian officials.
“Russia is the only source of aggression, constantly trying to expand the war,” Zelensky said in his speech. Courses taught in English Inside the ruins of a publishing house in Kharkiv that was destroyed in a Russian attack last week.
“Russia is preparing for offensive operations” about 60 miles northwest of Kharkiv, he said, adding that Moscow was “assembling another group of troops near our border.” Zelensky gave no further details about the potential attack.
On May 10, Moscow unexpectedly sent troops across the northeastern border, breaking through the Ukrainian defense line. Occupy the Village This forced the Kiev government to urgently send in reinforcements. Stopping the Russian advance.
One of the possible targets of a Russian attack, according to Zelensky’s comments, is the Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine, which has seen frequent cross-border fighting but no ground attacks since Russian forces attempted to seize the region’s main city of Sumy in early 2019. February 2022 Full InvasionBoth sides were then forced to retreat after fierce fighting. The Ukrainian military had previously warned that Russia might attack Ukraine’s northeastern border again.
The May incursion was the most significant in months of fighting, and military experts say a key Russian goal is to extend the length of the battlefield, which already stretches for hundreds of miles, and in doing so force Ukraine to spread its forces more thinly. In doing so, Moscow is clearly hoping to expand its existing advantage in the size of its military, experts say.
The war has ebbed and flown since Russian President Vladimir V. Putin launched the invasion, and Ukrainian troops are now defending Russian progress In the eastern part of Donetsk Oblast and the northeastern and southern part of Zaporizhia Oblast.
One of the direct victims was Kharkov, Rapid escalation The intensity of Russian airstrikes this month has forced many people to flee. On Sunday, the death toll from the attack on the hardware store rose to 14, with 43 more injured. Social Media Posts Oleh Syniehubov, the region’s military chief, said
According to Mr Syniehubov, local authorities said firefighters had put out the fire inside the supermarket and 200 emergency workers were dealing with the aftermath of the attack.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the attack was aimed at Ensure maximum civilian casualties“He couldn’t take Kharkiv, so he tried to destroy it,” Kuleba wrote on social media, referring to Putin.
The Russian Defense Ministry’s Telegram social media channel has commented extensively on the fighting in recent days but, as is customary, has not commented on the Kharkiv attack or other incidents reported by Ukrainian officials.
Mr. Kuleba called on Ukraine’s NATO allies to provide Ukraine with more Patriot missiles and other systems that can defend against missile attacks.
Billions of dollars Military Assistance Program The plan was finally approved last month after stalling in Congress for months, leaving Ukraine short of ammunition and increasingly exposed to Russian missile and drone attacks, but much of the hardware has yet to arrive.
Sinihubov reported on a second attack on Saturday that showed the vulnerability of the city of Kharkiv. He said the attack came hours after the supermarket was hit, and civilian commercial infrastructure in the city center was also hit. At least 25 people were injured, including a 14-year-old boy who was taken to hospital, according to the regional prosecutor’s office. Russian authorities did not comment.
Russia has also launched attacks outside of its usual recent theaters of operations. Governor Vitaliy KimThe head of the military administration in the southern Ukrainian region of Nikolaev said the drone blast damaged a local kindergarten building, while Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne reported an explosion in the central region of Khmelnytskyi.
Speaking in Kharkiv, Zelensky called on President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend a peace summit on Ukraine in Switzerland next month as Kyiv tries to rally global support for a framework deal that would involve the withdrawal of Russian forces from all of Ukraine and a halt to attacks on Ukrainian territory.
