Simple jolt on the front or new major offensive? The scale of the attack launched by Russia on Friday in the Kharkiv region is not yet entirely clear. The objective itself remains nebulous, although most of the fighting has been happening much further east for several weeks. Villages taken, counterattack, Western aid and results, 20 minutes takes stock for you.
What is Russia seeking with this attack?
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced that the Russian army had tried to “break through” the defense lines “using armored vehicles” on Friday around five in the morning. But the hypothesis of a dazzling breakthrough towards Kharkiv seems to be able to be ruled out, given the location of the various attacks. There is “no threat of a ground operation” towards Kharkiv, even insists Oleg Synegoubov, the regional governor.
Indeed, the Ukrainian General Staff clarified in the evening that Russia had carried out attacks near Krasné, Morokhovets and Oliinykové, three small border villages halfway between Kharkiv and Belgorod. But also further east, targeting Vovtchansk, a town of 3,000 inhabitants. In addition, bombings were recorded in the Sumy region, approximately 200 km northwest of Kharkiv. The attacks are therefore too scattered to imagine a real assault on Kharkiv. Enough to make a military source say that Russia is in reality seeking to create a “buffer zone” to prevent Ukraine from striking Belgorod.
Where are the fights?
Friday evening, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense assured that these offensives had been “repulsed”, despite “fighting of various intensities” still underway. The next day, Volodymyr Zelensky went further by speaking of a Ukrainian counterattack. “Disrupting Russian offensive plans is now our number one task,” he said. Reserve units were mobilized to strengthen the defense in this sector.
This did not prevent Russia from claiming the capture of six villages initially, then four others on Sunday noon, including Krasné and Morokhovets. At the same time, the authorities assisted civilians who preferred to flee the area in the face of bombing. “A total of 4,073 people have been evacuated” since Friday, regional governor Oleg Synegubov wrote on social networks.
For their part, Ukrainian forces have increased strikes inside Russia and in Russian-occupied Donbass, particularly against energy infrastructure. In the latest known attack, a Ukrainian drone caused a fire on the site of the Volgograd refinery in eastern Ukraine during the night from Saturday to Sunday, lamented the governor of the eponymous region, Andreï Botcharov.
What is the human toll?
While the number of combatant deaths and injuries remains unknown, Russian bombings have caused several civilian casualties. Two men, aged 50 and 48, were killed on Saturday and two others injured by an aerial bomb attack in Vovchansk, near the border, the governor said. He added this Sunday that a 63-year-old man was killed by artillery fire in the village of Glyboke and that a 38-year-old man was injured in Vovchansk.
What is the reaction of Ukraine and its allies?
“We must interrupt Russian offensive operations and regain the initiative,” Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday, once again calling on his allies to accelerate arms deliveries. “Every air defense system, every anti-missile system is literally what saves lives,” insisted the Ukrainian president.
Calendar coincidence noted by West France, a few hours after the start of the Russian offensive, the Canadian Minister of Defense announced aid of more than 50 million euros to help finance anti-aircraft defense systems that Germany must deliver to kyiv. “We have no time to lose,” declared his German counterpart Boris Pistorius in a joint press conference.