Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy postponed all foreign travel as the battlefield situation continued to deteriorate on Wednesday, with Ukrainian officials saying Russian infantry had entered the northeastern border town of Vovchansk in Kharkiv region.
The capture of that town five kilometres from the border would be Russia’s most significant gain since it launched an incursion into the Kharkiv region on Friday, opening a new front and forcing Kyiv to rush in reinforcements.
The assault keeps Ukraine’s stretched and depleted forces off balance ahead of what Zelenskyy has said could be a big Russian offensive in the coming weeks. Moscow has been slowly making ground in the east for months.
“The situation is extremely difficult. The enemy is taking positions on the streets of the town of Vovchansk,” Oleksiy Kharkivsky, Vovchansk’s patrol police chief, said on Facebook.
Ukrainian troops pulled back to “more advantageous” positions in two areas of the Kharkiv region, including the Vovchansk area, the military said late on Tuesday.
The first of its kind in Ukraine, an underground school in Kharkiv, Ukraine, is opening its doors for 900 students split into two shifts. Parents and staff are hoping the facility, dug six metres underground, will protect the children from frequent missile and drone attacks in the area while allowing them to regain a piece of their childhood. Many have been separated from their friends and forced into online learning since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
It said the decision was “a consequence of enemy fire and storming action” and taken “to preserve the lives of our servicemen and avoid losses.”
The battles in Kharkiv coincided with a Ukraine visit from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. At a news conference alongside Ukraine Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Blinken announced a $2 billion arms deal for Ukraine. The United States is focused on sending Patriot missile systems and other forms of critical air defence to Ukraine, Blinken said.
Thousands evacuate town of Vovchansk
Dmytro Lazutkin, spokesperson for the defence ministry, said “some” Russian infantry groups had entered the town, which military analysts reckon Moscow needs to capture to continue its offensive thrust in that direction.
Kyiv’s forces were trying to prevent Russia from building up troops and military hardware in Vovchansk’s north, the military said. The Russians were trying to regroup and dig in and had not taken any more “active” action on Wednesday, it added.
Police remained in Vovchansk and were continuing to evacuate people, Kharkivskiy said. Nearly 8,000 people have been evacuated from Vovchansk and border areas since Friday’s assault.
Zelenskyy has postponed all his foreign travel, his spokesman Sergiy Nykyforov said, after the Ukrainian leader held a daily conference call with senior military figures to discuss the situation in Kharkiv region and the supply of weapons.
“Volodymyr Zelenskyy has instructed that all international events scheduled for the coming days be postponed and new dates coordinated,” Nykyforov wrote on Facebook.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he spoke with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about receiving further support for Ukraine’s defence efforts, specifically regarding artillery and armoured vehicles. Zelenskyy says they ‘are working on expansion in this area.’ He also confirmed Trudeau will be attending the global peace summit for Ukraine in June.
Zelenskyy had been expected to visit Spain, and potentially Portugal, later this week.
Ukraine is trying to snuff out the assault in the Kharkiv region, while holding the line against Moscow’s main thrust in the eastern Donbas region and guarding against potential new border incursions.
Ukraine’s top military spy has warned that Russia had small groups of forces located to the north of Kharkiv region along the Sumy region.
Kyiv says the Russian assault into the northeast does not present an imminent threat to the region’s city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest, which is home to 1.3 million people.
Blinken on visit promises steadfast support
In the city of Dnipro, a Russian air attack struck infrastructure and killed two civilians on Wednesday, regional governor said.
Serhiy Lysak said on the Telegram messaging app that there were also people wounded, but gave no other immediate details.
Ukraine’s shortage of troops is compounded by months of delayed deliveries of weapons, in particular from the U.S., where Congress took six months to approve a major aid package.
The deteriorating situation in Kharkiv region coincided with Blinken’s visit to Kyiv.
“I know this is a really, really difficult time. Your soldiers, your citizens, particularly in the northeast in Kharkiv, are suffering tremendously,” he said earlier in the day.
Most of the money Blinken announced Wednesday, about $1.6 billion, comes from the $60 billion allotted to Ukraine in the supplemental foreign assistance legislation passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden, officials said.
Blinken, after playing guitar on Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World alongside a band at a Ukraine club on Tuesday night, toured a grain transshipment facility and a bionics factory on Wednesday. He praised Ukrainian innovation and ingenuity in the face of wartime difficulties.
Russia promises to retaliate for Belgorod strikes
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that continued attacks by Ukraine on civilians in Russia’s Belgorod region were a demonstration of the “criminality” of Kyiv and the Western powers which back it.
All those responsible for the attacks will be punished, Zakharova said.
A power line and nearly two dozen houses were damaged in Ukraine’s latest air attack on the city of Belgorod, with Russia’s air forces destroying 25 missiles over the broader region, Russian officials said on Tuesday.
One woman received spinal injuries from shrapnel, Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the southern Belgorod region which borders Ukraine, said on the Telegram messaging app.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
At his news conference, Blinken said the U.S. does not encourage strikes “outside of Ukraine” with American-supplied weapons but said it is a decision Kyiv should make for itself.