A Ukrainian serviceman from the 92nd separate assault brigade protects an space, amid Russia’s assault on Ukraine, close to town of Vovchansk within the Kharkiv area, Ukraine, on Could 19, 2024. | Picture credit score: Reuters
German International Minister Annalena Baerbock expressed concern on Could 21 about worsening battlefield circumstances for Ukrainian forces on the Japanese Entrance throughout an unannounced go to to kyiv.
The go to by Baerbock, who urged the West to produce Ukraine with extra air defenses, got here after greater than two dozen Russian drones attacked Ukraine in a single day, in an assault that left a number of individuals injured within the japanese Kharkiv area.
“The scenario in Ukraine has deteriorated dramatically as soon as once more with large Russian airstrikes in opposition to civilian infrastructure and the brutal Russian offensive within the Kharkiv area,” Baerbock mentioned as he arrived for his eighth go to to the nation since Russia invaded in February. of 2022. .
To guard itself from the “rain of Russian drones and missiles,” Ukraine “urgently wants a reinforcement of air protection,” he mentioned.
“Our help is predicated on the deep conviction that Ukraine will win this conflict,” mentioned Ms Baerbock.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned final week that the Russian floor offensive launched this month within the Kharkiv area could possibly be solely a “first wave” and that Russian troops could possibly be concentrating on town of Kharkiv, the second largest from Ukraine.
The Russian official appointed by Moscow as governor of the Kharkiv area mentioned Tuesday that his nation’s forces now managed nearly half of Vovchansk.
The city close to the Russian border had round 17,000 inhabitants earlier than the conflict and is now the epicenter of the preventing.
drone bombing
“Our guys management about 40 % of town. They’ve penetrated deep into the protection and eradicated the enemy as a lot as they might,” mentioned official Vitaly Ganchev.
“The northern a part of town has already been fully liberated,” he informed Russian state tv.
In the meantime, a Ukrainian navy spokesman informed state media that preventing within the Kharkiv area “stays tough and is altering dynamically.”
However he additionally mentioned the variety of preventing with Russian forces had decreased.
In a rebuke to Baerbock, the Kremlin mentioned that even when Western arms provides to Ukraine elevated, extra deliveries wouldn’t change Russia’s dominant place on the entrance.
Learn additionally | Russia takes management of village in Ukraine’s Kharkiv area, Protection Ministry says
“This nonetheless is not going to permit the Ukrainian armed forces to in some way change the dynamics on the fronts,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov informed reporters.
Zelenskyy has repeatedly known as on Ukraine’s allies to offer not less than seven extra air protection methods, together with not less than two to guard the Kharkiv area.
Russian President Vladimir Putin believes Ukraine and its allies will ultimately lose energy, Baerbock mentioned.
“(However) we now have the power to withstand,” he mentioned.
Simply earlier than Baerbock arrived, the Ukrainian air power mentioned it had intercepted 28 of 29 Iranian-designed assault drones launched by Russian forces in a single day.
The unmanned aerial automobiles had been shot down over the southern and japanese areas of Ukraine.
The top of the Kharkiv area mentioned a 53-year-old man was injured by a Russian rocket launch that focused a transportation infrastructure facility.
Russia’s systematic assaults on Ukraine’s power grid have crippled the sector, and officers within the capital introduced energy outages all through the day on Tuesday to cut back the load on the grid.
The nationwide grid operator mentioned Ukraine was importing electrical energy from Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania and Slovakia to make up for the shortfall on account of Russian strikes.
