(Kyiv) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the front in the Kharkiv region (northeast) on Monday, while Russian troops again claimed the capture of a new village in the Donetsk region (east), continuing a slow advance.
“Today I had the honor to congratulate our special forces fighters […] and to award them with official decorations,” Zelensky said in a statement posted on social media after visiting a forward army command post in the Vovchansk area.
“I am grateful for their bravery and heroic operations behind enemy lines,” he added.
On May 10, Russian forces opened a new front by attacking the Kharkiv region from the north. They are particularly seeking to seize the city of Vovchansk, which is still at the heart of fierce fighting and has suffered very heavy destruction, according to drone images from the Ukrainian army.
The attack prompted Kyiv to send reinforcements to the area, as Ukraine is already seriously short of troops due to heavy losses more than two years after the Russian invasion. Ukrainian forces have so far blocked any Russian advance in the Vovchansk area.
Russian forces have also failed to stop rocket and drone attacks on the Russian region of Belgorod, which was the Kremlin’s stated objective for the offensive.
PHOTO VYACHESLAV MADIYEVSKYY, REUTERS ARCHIVES
Firefighters work at the site of a house destroyed by a Russian missile attack, in Kharkiv, July 24, 2024.
Slow Russian advance in the East
At the same time, Russia continues to gain ground in the Donetsk region (East), where it has had the initiative since the failure of the Ukrainian counter-offensive in the summer of 2023 and the fall of the Avdiivka fortress in February 2024.
The attacks of the Russian army, although very costly in soldiers and equipment, are forcing the Ukrainian defenses to buckle in some sectors. But so far Moscow has not managed to make a decisive breakthrough.
Several cities in the East are also under Russian fire. Like Toretsk, where three civilians were killed and three others wounded, according to the regional governor, Vadym Filachkin. Another person died in Grodivka, another locality in the Donetsk region.
On Monday, the Russian army claimed to have captured yet another small village, Vovche, in the same region. The day before, it had claimed to have captured two neighboring towns, Progress and Yevgenivka. These small villages are located about fifteen kilometers east of Pokrovsk and Myrnograd, two larger cities.
In other areas of the region, the Russian army is still attacking the strategic city of Chassiv Yar, near Bakhmut. Kyiv is suffering from the numerical and material superiority of Moscow, which has more ammunition and uses gliding bombs, which are difficult to counter and destroy the strongest fortifications.
About 700 hover bombs and more than 100 Shahed explosive drones have been used by Russia over the past week, according to Ukrainian President Zelensky. Ukrainian forces are short of weapons and ammunition compared to the Russians, even though Western aid has been resumed after months of blockages.
They are also struggling to replenish their ranks, to cope with the heavy losses accumulated more than two years after the start of the Russian invasion. Ukraine, at a numerical disadvantage against Russia, is having difficulty recruiting new soldiers. New laws were passed in the spring to speed up mobilization.