War Archive 2022 02/24 Monitoring Russian and Ukraine War.

[Saif]

US military aid ‘on its way’

American military aid for Ukraine is “on its way”, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Kyiv yesterday, as Russia pressed on with a new offensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region.

www.thedailystar.net

US military aid 'on its way'
Blinken tells Ukraine as Russia presses on with new offensive in Kharkiv region

American military aid for Ukraine is "on its way", US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Kyiv yesterday, as Russia pressed on with a new offensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region.

Blinken's trip comes just weeks after the US Congress finally approved a $61 billion financial aid package for Ukraine after months of political wrangling, unlocking much-needed arms for the country's stretched troops.

"In the near term, assistance is now on its way that and that will make a real difference against the Russian aggression," he told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Blinken arrived by overnight train from Poland on his fourth visit to Kyiv since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022. Zelensky thanked Washington for the aid, saying: "The decision on the package was crucial for us".

He said the biggest deficit for Ukraine was air defence and asked for two Patriot batteries in the Kharkiv region, where Russian forces have been advancing and pounding villages along the border.

At a checkpoint outside the city of Kharkiv, an official said Russian forces had entered Ukraine through "villages on the very border which were complicated for us to defend".

"They are on high ground and are shelling us from there," said the official, Volodymyr Usov. The White House said Monday it was doing "everything" possible to rush weapons to Ukraine.​

 

[Saif]

Russian forces take control of 3 settlements

Russian forces have taken control of two more settlements in Ukraine’s north-east Kharkiv region and one in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, the defence ministry said yesterday, building on a run of incremental gains that have alarmed Kyiv.

www.thedailystar.net

Russian forces take control of 3 settlements

Russian forces have taken control of two more settlements in Ukraine's north-east Kharkiv region and one in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, the defence ministry said yesterday, building on a run of incremental gains that have alarmed Kyiv.

The defence ministry said in a statement that units from Russia's "North" military grouping had captured the settlements of Hlyboke and Lukyantsi in the Kharkiv region after intense fighting and had advanced "deep into the enemy defences."

The ministry spoke of heavy fighting in other parts of Kharkiv region too where it said Russian forces had repelled three Ukrainian counter attacks, reports Reuters.

Blinken announces an additional $2bn in military financing for Kyiv

Moscow's claims came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced an additional $2bn in foreign military financing from the US for Ukraine while in Kyiv, and said Washington had not explicitly prohibited Ukraine from using Western weapons to strike targets inside Russia.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky cancelled planned trips abroad over the fresh offensive and the military was sending more troops to Kharkiv to hold back Russian advances, Kyiv said.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed his country's troops for advancing on "all fronts" on the battlefield in Ukraine, reports AFP.

"In all directions our troops are constantly, every day, improving their positions," Putin said.​

 

[Saif]

Russia escalates the war in Ukraine, aiming to complicate Kyiv’s defence

Breaking News, International News & Multimedia

thedailynewnation.com

Russia escalates the war in Ukraine, aiming to complicate Kyiv's defence
16 May 2024, 12:00 am

Aljazeera :

Russia escalated its aggressive war in Ukraine psychologically, tactically and economically in the past week, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitted, "it's a challenging moment".

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Russian soldiers had begun to train with the Belarusian military in tactical nuclear weapons, which the Kremlin has hinted could be used on the battlefield in Ukraine.

"An escalation is ongoing. What should we do in this situation? We need to keep powder dry, including these lethal weapons," Russian official news agency TASS quoted him as saying.

Russian forces opened a new front in Ukraine's northern Kharkiv region, seizing villages near the border – an offensive Ukrainian officials had warned about days earlier.

Meanwhile in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin named an economist to streamline his Ministry of Defence and nationalise Russian defence industries. Some observers believed that was an indication of Putin's long-term plans to prepare Russia to fight NATO.

Russian forces opened a northern front on Friday, contesting territory they abandoned at the end of May 2022, after failing to capture Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Kharkiv, Ukraine's major northern cities.

Ukrainian and Western experts said it aimed to sow panic, divert scant resources before new US weapons arrived, and facilitate territorial gains in Ukraine's east, where the fiercest fighting was taking place.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his Sunday evening address: "The intention of the strikes in Kharkiv Oblast is to stretch our forces and undermine the moral and motivational basis of Ukrainians' ability to defend themselves." "[Russian forces were] likely conducting the initial phase of an offensive operation north of Kharkiv City that has limited operational objectives but is meant to achieve the strategic effect of drawing Ukrainian manpower and materiel from other critical sectors of the front in eastern Ukraine," said the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank.

The numbers of Russian troops appeared to confirm this. Ukrainian military commentators Konstantyn Mashovets and Alexander Kovalenko said Russia had committed about 2,000 soldiers to the front line, with about 2,000 more in immediate reserve and almost 4,000 due to arrive within a week of the initial attack.​

 

[TheNewb77]

 

[Saif]

Russia presses offensive into Ukraine but holds off key city

On a trip to China, Putin said the latest assault was direct retaliation for Ukraine's shelling of Russia's border regions and his country was trying to create a "security zone"

en.prothomalo.com

Russia presses offensive into Ukraine but holds off key city
AFPKyiv, Ukraine
Published: 18 May 2024, 08: 36

Ukrainian firefighters put out a fire in food warehouse after Russian missile strike to Odesa on 17 May 2024, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine.AFP

Russian forces pressed ahead Friday with an offensive into northeast Ukraine but President Vladimir Putin said there were no current plans to occupy the key city of Kharkiv.

On a trip to China, Putin said the latest assault was direct retaliation for Ukraine's shelling of Russia's border regions and his country was trying to create a "security zone".

Over two years into Russia's invasion, he added there was no intention, at this stage, to take Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, about 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the border. More than one million people still live there.

Russia launched the surprise offensive into Ukraine's northeast on May 10, sending thousands of troops across the border and unleashing artillery fire on several settlements.

Both countries said Russian troops were still advancing, but Ukraine warned heavy fighting lay ahead.

Russia's defence ministry said its army had "liberated 12 settlements in the Kharkiv region over the last week... and continues to advance deep into enemy defences."

Russian forces took 278 square kilometres (107 square miles) -- their biggest gains in a year-and-a-half -- between 9 and 15 May, AFP has calculated using data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

'Heavy fighting'

The Ukrainian governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleg Synegubov, said Russian forces were trying to surround Vovchansk, an almost deserted town near the border which had a pre-war population of around 18,000.

"The enemy has actually started to destroy the town. It is not just dangerous to be there, but impossible," Synegubov told a briefing.

He said Ukrainian troops were resisting, but warned Russia was gaining ground near Lukyantsi, a village around 20 kilometres (12 miles) northeast of Kharkiv city.

Kyiv pulled its troops back from that area this week amid heavy fire and has rushed in reinforcements.

Ukraine army chief Oleksandr Syrsky said Russia was trying to force Ukraine to pull up even more troops from its reserves.

"We realise that there will be heavy fighting ahead and the enemy is preparing for it," he said.

Russia hit Kharkiv with more strikes on Friday that killed at least three people and injured 28, the city's Mayor Igor Terekhov said.

Russian strikes in Vovchansk killed a man of 35 and injured another aged 60, regional prosecutors said.

In the southern port city of Odesa, local governor Oleg Kiper said one person was killed and five hospitalised in a bombardment.

Russia has a manpower and ammunition advantage across the front lines, and military analysts say the northeastern offensive could aim to further stretch Ukrainian troops and resources.

Ukraine has evacuated almost 9,000 people from the area since Russia launched the offensive.

Drone wave

Ukrainian drone and shelling attacks on Russian border regions meanwhile killed at least three people, including a child, officials said.

Kyiv launched one of its largest aerial attacks in weeks, firing drones at Russia and the annexed Crimea peninsula overnight.

The Russian military said it intercepted or downed more than 100 Ukrainian drones over the south of the country, Crimea and the Black Sea.

Officials in multiple Russian regions reported damage.

One drone struck a family driving near the border in the Belgorod region, killing a mother and her four-year-old son, the region's governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

"The child was in a critical condition. Doctors did everything possible to save him. (But) to much grief, the four-year-old died in hospital," he said.

Shelling on another border village in Russia's Bryansk region on Friday killed one person, the regional governor said.

In the coastal town of Tuapse in the southern Krasnodar region, Ukrainian drones hit an oil refinery for the second time this year, sparking a large fire that was put out, authorities said.

Several fires also erupted after a drone attack on Novorossiysk, a key port city also in the Krasnodar region, local governor Veniamin Kondratyev said.

A source in Ukraine's defence sector confirmed Kyiv had targeted oil facilities in both cities, and also hit an electrical substation in the Russian-controlled port of Sevastopol on the annexed Crimean peninsula.

The city's Russian-installed governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said there had been a "partial blackout" after debris from downed drones damaged a substation.​