Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj praised Ukrainian soldiers when he visited Kharkiv on Sunday: – I feel infinitely proud of our defenders.
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According to Reuters, the president’s visit to Kharkiv will be the first official visit outside the Kyiv region since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Zelensky was in town to meet Ukrainian forces. In a post on Facebookhe praises the soldiers for their efforts.
– I feel infinitely proud of our defenders. Every day, they risk their lives and choose freedom for Ukraine. Thank you to each and every one of you for your service!
During the visit, Zelensky received an operational update on the situation there, and visited destroyed administration and residential buildings in the city.
The city has been hard hit by shelling and bombing after Russia invaded the country, but after fierce fighting, Ukrainian forces have managed to regain control of the city. The damage is still great.
A video posted on the president’s Facebook profile shows several buildings in ruins.
– 2229 destroyed houses in Kharkiv and the region. We will restore everything, rebuild, fill with life. In Kharkiv and all other towns and villages where evil has come, he writes.
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On Sunday night, Reuters reports that Zelenskyj has fired the head of the security service in Kharkiv. The reason, according to the president, is that the military chief must have failed in the work of defending the city, during the first days of the war.
ISW: The Russians are making progress
Russia has recently intensified its attacks on Kharkiv, in an attempt to regain control of its territory north of the city, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
On Sunday, the institute writes that Russian forces in Kharkiv are focusing their efforts on preventing a Ukrainian counter-offensive from reaching the international border between Kharkiv and Belgorod in Russia.
Zelensky says on Sunday night that all critical infrastructure in the city has been destroyed.
At the same time, Russian forces are making progress in Luhansk and the Donbas, in eastern Ukraine. According to Luhansk Governor Serhij HajdajRussian forces have invaded Sevierodonetskthe largest city in the Donbas, over which Ukraine still has control.
Saturday morning, Russian forces also confirmed that they had taken control of the Ukrainian city of Lyman in the Luhansk region.
In his daily video speech on Saturday, Zelensky said that Ukrainian forces were facing “indescribably difficult” conditions in the battle of Sevierodonetsk and Lysychansk in Luhansk.
Map of areas occupied by Russian forces:
– Most serious since Azovstal
ISW writes on Sunday that the Ukrainian military is facing the most serious challenge since the isolation of Azovstal plant in Mariupol.
– Ukrainian forces may suffer a significant tactical defeat in the coming days if Sievjerodonetsk falls, although such an outcome is by no means certain, and Russian attacks may well stop again, they write.
According to ISW, the city is not surrounded yet, but the Russians can still succeed in taking the city and the areas further west, the institute writes. It may still give the Ukrainians an opportunity to launch a counter-offensive:
– When the battle for Sevierodonetsk is over, no matter which side holds the city, the Russian offensive will probably have culminated on an operational and strategic level. This will give Ukraine the opportunity to launch counter-offensives to push back Russian forces.
In the analysis, they also write that Russia inflicts enormous suffering on the Ukrainians and demands sacrifices of their own, in order to conquer a city that does not correspond to the cost.
– The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which aimed to conquer and occupy the whole country, has become a desperate and bloody offensive to conquer a single city in the east, while defending important but limited gains in the south and east.
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