UPDATE ON THE SITUATION – “This is a completely new thing. The goal is to use drones and other technologies to protect our borders,” said the Lithuanian Interior Minister.
Ukraine assured this Friday that it had “stopped” the Russian assault on the Kharkiv region, underway for two weeks, and having started a counterattack in this sector of the northeast of the country where President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was.
NATO countries bordering Russia will erect “a wall of drones”
The six member countries of Russia’s neighboring NATO have agreed to build a “drone wall” in order to defend their borders against “Provocation”the Lithuanian government announced on Friday.
“This is a completely new thing, a wall of drones stretching from Norway to Poland. The goal is to use drones and other technologies to protect our borders.Lithuanian Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite told the BNS news agency.
The United States announces the sending of 275 million dollars in arms to Ukraine
The United States announced on Friday the sending of 275 million dollars in arms to “help Ukraine repel Russia’s offensive near Kharkiv”.
The equipment, taken from American military stocks, includes ammunition for the Himars rocket launcher system, artillery shells, guided missiles, and anti-tank weapons – all weapons of which Ukraine has “urgently needed”according to a press release from the US State Department.
“Counter-offensive actions” in the Kharkiv region
The Russian army launched an offensive in the Kharkiv region from the border on May 10, seizing several localities and forcing Ukraine to deploy valuable reinforcements in the area. After two weeks of fighting, “Ukrainian defense forces stopped Russian troops” And “carry out counter-offensive actions”, said Colonel Igor Prokhorenko, an official of the Ukrainian general staff, on Friday. He described the situation as “difficult” but “stable and under control”in this region where fighting is taking place in particular for control of the city of Vovtchansk, cut in two and where kyiv has accused Moscow of abuses.
“The enemy is completely bogged down in street fighting in Vovchansk and has suffered very significant losses”General Oleksandr Syrsky, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, assured Friday, affirming that Moscow was sending “reserves” to continue his assault. According to kyiv, Russia aims to extend until breaking the defensive lines of the Ukrainian forces, weakened by two years of war, the lack of new recruits and shortages of weapons due to months of Western procrastination. Since May 10, nearly 11,000 civilians have been forced to leave their homes in the region, Governor Oleg Synegubov said Thursday.
Volodymyr Zelensky in Kharkiv
President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he would be in Kharkiv on Friday, notably for meetings on the “defense of the region, especially in Vovchansk”. “The city and the entire region of Kharkiv deserve all our support, gratitude and respect”he wrote on social networks.
Regarding other sectors of the front, General Syrsky’s tone was more somber. Further south in the Kharkiv region, the Russians have been on the attack near Kupiansk for almost a year, and now “the situation is complicated in the Kyslivka sector, where the enemy is trying to break through our defenses and reach the Oskil River”. In the Donbass, the officer reported fierce clashes in the direction of Chassiv Iar, Pokrovsk and Kurakhové where the Russians have been nibbling ground for months, without achieving a decisive breakthrough for the moment. Finally, “The most intense and violent fighting is taking place in the Pokrovsk and Kurakhové sectors. The enemy is trying to break through the defense of our troops on a narrow section of the front between Staromykhailivka and Berdychi.he clarified.
Russia says it launched its May offensive in northeastern Ukraine to create a buffer zone meant to prevent Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory. Russian advances in recent days near Chassiv Yar seem to have increased since the offensive of May 10. Moscow notably claimed the capture of two villages on the outskirts that Ukraine had barely liberated last summer. The Kremlin is trying to take advantage of the fact that the opposing army has been weakened by losses and months of paralysis of American military aid.
