Five weeks after the start of the Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region, everything is not going as planned. The Ukrainian army managed to stabilize the front line at the end of May and, since the beginning of June, it has even managed to carry out counterattacks. “ The thing was extremely rare this winter or spring », observes General Olivier Kempf in his situation update this Sunday.
These maneuvers paid off since the Russians began to retreat last week, notably in the town of Hlyboke, 35 km north of Kharkiv, but also in Vovchansk. It is in this city that the Ukrainian army has succeeded in recent days in surrounding hundreds of Russian soldiers taking refuge in an aggregates factory.
“No chance of reinforcements”
“ Around 200 Russian soldiers, including dead and wounded, are currently isolated at the factory after Russian forces attempted to cross the Vovcha River east of the factory on an unspecified date and entered the factory after coming under Ukrainian fire », Reports the Institute for the Study of War, citing a Ukrainian source.
The Forbes newspaper reported on Sunday that “ dozens of soldiers » Russians had surrendered to the Ukrainian forces, « dealing a major setback to Russia’s faltering offensive in the north “. “ The Russians are surrounded here, with no chance of evacuation or reinforcements », Reports a Ukrainian soldier on X. The factory, in which these Russian soldiers are located, is bombed by the Ukrainian army.
Some Ukrainian sources even mention up to 400 Russian soldiers trapped. The Russian army, which holds the front line a few blocks away, has reportedly tried several times to rescue the isolated group, so far in vain.
