MADRID, 11 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Ukrainian Army announced this Saturday that Russian forces have intensified their operations in the Kharkiv region in recent hours with new attacks in the direction of seven towns in the area, where almost 2,000 people have left their homes in the last few hours and in amid new fighting on the war front, scene of more than 120 Russian bombings in the last hours.
The governor of Kharkiv, Oleg Sinegubov, has reported through his Telegram channel that so far the toll is three dead and several more people injured, as well as artillery and mortar bombardments on Petropavlivka, Stepova Novoselivka or Berestov, as well as aviation bombings over Hliboke, Lukiantsi, Ohirtseve, Vovchansk, Vovchanski Jutori, Vesele, Vilcha, Liptsi, Slobozhanske, Sosnovy Bir or Ukrainsk.
Sinegubov added that Russia has intensified its bombing in the north throughout this past night, particularly around Vovchansk.
The latest report from the General Staff of the Ukrainian Army, published this Saturday, confirms a new Russian offensive against the towns of Lipets and Vovchansk, in addition to additional fighting around the disputed towns of Strelecha, Pylne, Borisivka, Oliinikovo and Ohirtseve.
The head of the Council of Reservists of the Ground Forces, Ivan Timochko, has explained that the intention of this Russian offensive is to attract Ukrainian forces to leave other parts of the front unprotected, taking advantage of their conquest of the strategic town of Avdiivka in February. past.
This past Friday, the spokesman for the United States National Security Council, John Kirby, warned of the possibility of a large-scale attack by Russia against the capital Kharkov in light of the increase in bombings in recent days.
“Russia has gone from trying to advance in northern Ukraine to concentrating exclusively on the east and right now they appear to be firing long-range missiles at Kharkiv. One presumes Russia would not do that if it were not planning a full-scale assault on the city,” Kirby warned at a press conference.
In this sense, Governor Sinegubov has indicated that, despite the ongoing evacuations, there are still no reasons to order a large-scale abandonment of the city. “We clearly understand what the enemy is doing in the north of our territory. There, of course, escalation and pressure may increase, but there are no threats to Kharkiv yet,” he said in statements reported by Ukrinform.
Although Russia has announced in the last few hours that its forces have taken control of five towns in Kharkiv in the last few hours (Borisovka, Ogurtsovo, Pletenevka, Pylnaya and Strelechia), the Ukrainian General Staff has assured this morning that the fighting continues. in each and every one of them.
According to the press service of the General Staff, Russia has also carried out more than 120 rocket attacks against Ukrainian positions in recent hours. In addition to Kharkiv, it has also attacked the Sumy regions and portions of Donetsk still under Ukrainian control. The attacks have affected more than a hundred localities in these regions, as well as Chernigov, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Mikolaiv.