Ukraine withdraws troops near Kharkiv, Russia enters Vovchansk in new offensive

Russia’s new offensive gained momentum Wednesday around Ukraine’s second-largest city, the latest blow for kyiv as it struggles to contain this new war front following delays in crucial military aid the United States.

Even as Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the country to assure it of allies’ support, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy canceled all future foreign trips – a sign of how seriously Ukrainians take advance of the Russian army.

Ukraine’s military said it had withdrawn some of its forces from more areas around the crucial northeastern city of Kharkiv, while local officials said Russian troops had taken up positions inside the key frontline town of Vovchansk.

It’s part of a new armored attack launched by Russia last week that risks pushing Ukraine’s military to the breaking point. And kyiv fears that Moscow will also mass troops for new border incursions elsewhere.

The delay in new American support gave the Kremlin a window for a summer offensive that threatened to make crucial gains on the battlefield as its forces bombarded Kharkiv from the air.

Ukraine has sent reinforcements to defend the area along its northern border, from where thousands of residents have been evacuated since the assault began last Friday.

But on Tuesday evening, he announced that some troops were to withdraw.

“Due to the impact of enemy fire and assaults, in order to save the lives of our servicemen and avoid losses, the units carried out a maneuver and moved to more advantageous positions,” they said. said the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Facebook.

Zelensky previously said Russia was planning a large offensive this summer. Moscow suffered serious difficulties at the start of the war, Western military analysts acknowledge, but it has since reversed that trend and strengthened its position.

Russian forces attacking Ukraine have reached more than 500,000 troops, a significant numerical advantage over their neighbors, according to Jack Watling, a senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank.

It was unclear whether the new northeastern push was Russia’s main effort or an attempt to draw besieged Ukrainian forces away from other sensitive areas to the south and east.

“Russia’s goal is not to make a big breakthrough, but rather to convince Ukraine that it can continue its inexorable advance, kilometer by kilometer, along the front,” Watling said in an email. .

In Vovchansk, 5 kilometers from the Russian border, the city’s police chief, Oleksii Kharkivskyy, released a video in which heavy fighting could be heard nearby. “The situation is extremely difficult,” he said. “The enemy is taking positions in the streets.”

More than 7,500 people from neighboring border areas in the Kharkiv region have been evacuated, local officials said.

It may not end there.

Ukrainian officials also expect Russia to make a “strong push” further west into the Sumy region, Ukraine’s military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov told the New York Times.

As fighting raged in the northeast, in the capital kyiv, Blinken tried to reassure his hosts.

“We know this is a difficult time,” Blinken said Tuesday after meeting with Zelenskyy.

In town, Blinken, an avid guitarist, joined a Ukrainian band on stage to play Neil Young’s rock classic, “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

Despite the approval of U.S. aid and promises from Blinken that supplies had arrived or were imminent, Zelensky said more needed to be done, including on air defense.

“The delay between the announcement of the packages and the actual appearance of weapons on the front line is too long,” he said in an evening speech.

In a sign of how seriously Ukraine is taking the new Russian push, Zelenskyy this week canceled a planned trip to Spain and Portugal, where he was due to sign a bilateral defense deal.

In Moscow’s view, Blinken’s surprise visit is another sign that kyiv and Washington are shaken.

“It is obvious that the situation at the front and the military failures of the Ukrainian army cause increasingly serious concerns within the Biden administration,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday. , during a daily press briefing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Thursday. The two men announced a “no holds barred” partnership days before Putin launched his full-scale invasion in February 2022.