Ukraine has said its forces are fighting Russian troops in northern districts of Vovchansk in the Kharkiv region, but said the invaders had been unable to break through deeper into the border town.
The capture of Vovchansk, 5km from the border, would be Russia’s most significant gain since it launched an incursion into the region last Friday, opening a newfront in its invasion and forcing Kyiv to rush in reinforcements.
“The enemy’s plans to penetrate deeper into the town of Vovchansk and gain a foothold there were thwarted,” the Ukrainian General Staff said in a statement.
Describing the situation in Vovchansk as under control, it said its defensive actions had forced Russian troops to reduce the tempo of their push into the north of Kharkiv region.
Military spokesperson Nazar Voloshyn said Ukrainian troops were focused on trying to prevent Russian forces establishing footholds in the region’s north.
“Our units … detect separate enemy units, the location of artillery deployments and inflict damage to prevent the enemy from accumulating forces and equipment in the northern part of the town of Vovchansk,” Mr Voloshyn said in televised comments.
Russia makes biggest Ukraine gains in 17 months, takes 278sq/km – AFP
Russian forces have advanced 278 sq/km in their week-old offensive in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region and in the south, their biggest gains in a year-and-a-half, AFP has calculated using data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Between 9 and 15 May, Moscow’s military gained 257 sq/km of territory in the Kharkiv area and 21 sq/km in other areas, including the prized southern village of Robotyne which Ukraine had recaptured last year.
They represent Russia’s biggest gains since mid-December 2022 when it advanced in the Lugansk region after major setbacks around Kharkiv and in the south.
Since the start of 2024, Russian forces have taken around 800 sq/km of Ukrainian territory – more than the around 600 sq/km gained in all of 2023.
The changes to the front line, which had barely budged in over a year, remain limited however, with Russia’s gains accounting for less than one percent of the Ukrainian territory under Moscow’s control.
But Russia’s new push on two fronts marks the biggest change to the front line since mid-December 2022, when Russian forces advanced more than 350 sq/km in the Lugansk region after being routed from the southern city of Kherson and from the approaches to Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-biggest city.
Since the start of the war on 24 February, 2022, Russia has captured 65,336 sq/km of Ukrainian territory, representing nearly 12% of Ukraine’s surface area, excluding the Crimean peninsula which Moscow annexed in 2014.
AFP’s calculations are based on files published daily by the US-based ISW, which produces data based on information published by both parties to the war as well as on satellite images of Ukraine.
Putin ally says Ukraine risks dragging West into a major war with Russia
The speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament warned that Ukraine was dragging the United States and Europe into a major global war and today urged western leaders to act responsibly to avoid a catastrophe.
President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine has touched off the worst breakdown in relations between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Russia is now advancing along the front line in Ukraine.
“The Kyiv regime is dragging the United States and European countries into a big war,” said Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the State Duma, who is a close ally of Vladimir Putin’s and a member of Russia’s Security Council.
He said that Ukrainian lawmakers were trying to convince the United States to allow Kyiv to use US-supplied weapons to strike Russian territory.
“This path leads to a tragedy that can affect all of humanity,” Mr Volodin said.
“Western politicians need to realise their responsibility and do everything to avoid bringing the situation to a global catastrophe.”
In Kyiv yesterday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Washington had “not encouraged or enabled strikes outside of Ukraine, but ultimately Ukraine has to make decisions for itself about how it’s going to conduct this war.”
“We’ve been clear about our own policy, but again, these are decisions that Ukraine has to make, Ukraine will make for itself,” Mr Blinken said, according to a transcript of his remarks provided by the US State Department.
Ukraine says it has the right to attack Russian targets as it is being struck by Russian missiles on a daily basis.
The United States has been wary of its weapons being used in a direct attack on Russia, the world’s biggest nuclear power, due to the wider risks.
Mr Putin and US President Joe Biden have cautioned that a direct confrontation between Russia and the US-led NATO military alliance could trigger World War III.
Russia has warned that the use of US and western weapons against targets inside Russia could trigger a new level of confrontation – and Mr Putin has ordered tactical nuclear weapon exercises, partly as a response to western statements.
“Any use of American and European weapons to attack peaceful cities of the Russian Federation will require the use of more powerful weapons to protect the citizens of our country,” Mr Volodin said.
Mr Putin accused the West last week of risking a global conflict and said no one would be allowed to threaten Russia.
