With the overwhelming successes that the Russian Federation forces are enjoying in the North near Kharkov, and the relentless push in the eastern Donetsk Oblast, the situation of the Ukrainian defenders is as bad as it’s ever been in this war.
In this context of near breakdown in the Ukrainian lines in several points, President Volodymyr Zelensky decided to postpone all his foreign trips.
There is also the fact that his Constitutional presidential mandate expires on May 20th, meaning that, after cancelling elections, he will be an illegitimate president, kept in place by force.
The battlefield situation continues to deteriorate with Kiev having to acknowledge that Russian troops have entered the city of Volchansk in Kharkov region.
The imminent capture of this locality would be Russia’s most significant conquest in this fast-paced new offensive, and it is forcing Ukrainian Commander in Chief Oleksandr Syrsky to send whatever reinforcements he can find to the region to prevent a general breakdown.
Reuters reported:
“The assault keeps Ukraine’s forces, also holding the 1,000 km (600 mile) front line in east and south, off balance ahead of what Zelensky has said could be a big Russian offensive in the coming weeks. Moscow has been slowly making ground in the east for months.
‘The situation is extremely difficult. The enemy is taking positions on the streets of the town of Volchansk’, Oleksiy Kharkovskyi, Volchansk’s patrol police chief, said on Facebook.
Dmytro Lazutkin, a spokesman for the defense ministry, said ‘some’ Russian infantry groups had entered the town. Ukrainian troops later managed to ‘partially’ push them back, the general staff said, but ‘defensive actions’ raged in the north and northwestern outskirts.”
Russian forces captured the settlements of Glubokoye and Lukyantsy in Kharkov region. This comes as the single accomplishment of the Ukrainian Summer offensive, Rabotino in the Zaporozhye region, has also been recaptured by Moscow.
Kharkov city is now within artillery range.
Ukraine pulled back to new positions in the Volchansk area due to ‘a consequence of enemy fire and storming action’.
“Ukraine is trying to snuff out the assault in the Kharkov region, while holding the line against Moscow’s main thrust in the eastern Donbas region and guarding against potential new border incursions.
The top military spy has warned that Russia had small groups of forces located to the north of Kharkov region along its border with the Sumy region.”
Ukraine’s shortage of troops has left them outmaneuvered by the enemy. As reinforcements are sent north, there is a risk of breakthrough in areas in the East or South.
While Kyiv says the Russian assault into the northeast does not present an imminent threat to Ukraine’s second largest city of Kharkov, home to 1.3 million people, it is a fact that the supply lines for the city are now under fire Russian control.
Politico reported:
“’Volodymyr Zelensky has instructed that all international events scheduled for the coming days be postponed and new dates coordinated. We are grateful to partners for their understanding’, said Zelensky’s press secretary Sergii Nykyforov in a statement on social media.
[…] Ukraine’s commanders are ‘making all decisions based on comprehensive information. Additional forces are being deployed, reserves are available’, according to Nykyforov.
Spain and Portugal were on the list of countries Zelensky was set to visit, according to media reports.”
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