The Ukrainian government has suggested that Kyiv could expand its own military targets with a growing counter-offensive against the Russians, and said it would stop the flow of Russian gas through its country to Europe.
As war is now 11 weeks and Russia strikes the vital port of Odessa with missile strikes in an apparent effort to disrupt supply lines, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said late Tuesday that the military is gradually pushing Russian troops away from the key city of Kharkiv and back to the border. with Russia.
The Ukrainian army’s general staff said its forces had driven Russians from four villages northeast of Kharkiv, a key city that has been under attack by Russians since the conflict began.
Tatiana Apatchenko, a press officer at the 92nd Separate Mechanized Brigade, the main Ukrainian force in the region, confirmed that Ukrainian troops have taken over Cherkasy Tishki, Ruski Tishki, Borshchova and Slobozhanske in recent days in a pocket north of Kharkiv.
Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba appears to have indicated that the country could go beyond simply pushing Russia back into areas it or its allies held on the day of the February 24 invasion.
The idea reflects Ukraine’s ability to stop a larger, better-armed Russian army, much to the surprise of many who expected a much faster end to the conflict.
Kuleba told the Financial Times that Ukraine initially thought the victory would be the withdrawal of Russian troops to positions they held before the invasion.
“Now, if we are strong enough on the military front and win the battle for Donbass, which will be decisive for the next dynamics of the war, of course, victory for us in this war will be the liberation of the rest of our territories.”
Another possible sign of growing Ukrainian confidence, GTSOU, which manages Ukraine’s gas system, said it would cut off supplies through Sohranovka on Wednesday, a transit point it said supplies almost a third of fuel from Russia to Europe via Ukraine.
He declared “force majeure”, a clause that is used when the business is affected by something beyond its control, Reuters reported. Russia’s Gazprom said it would be “technologically impossible”.
However, Russia continues to bomb many parts of Ukraine as the conflict escalates.
Ukraine said on Tuesday that Russian forces had fired seven missiles at Odessa a day earlier, hitting a shopping mall and warehouse in the country’s largest port. One person was killed and five were injured, the military said.
The images show a burning building and debris – including a tennis shoe – in a pile of devastation in the Black Sea city. Later, Mayor Gennady Trukhanov visited the warehouse and said it had “nothing to do with military infrastructure or military sites”.
One of the most dramatic examples of Ukraine’s ability to prevent easy victories is in Mariupol, where Ukrainian fighters remained hidden in a steel plant, denying Russia’s full control of the city. The regiment, which is defending the plant, said Russian warplanes continued to bomb it, striking 34 times in 24 hours.
In recent days, the United Nations and the Red Cross have organized the rescue of, according to some officials, the last civilians trapped in the plant. But two officials said Tuesday that about 100 are still believed to be in the complex’s underground tunnels. Donetsk Regional Governor Pavlo Kirilenko said the others were people “not chosen by the Russians” for evacuation.
Kirilenko and Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, did not say how they knew civilians were still in the complex – a maze of tunnels and bunkers located 11 square kilometers (4 square miles). Others said their statements could not be confirmed.
Other key developments include:
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US lawmakers in the House of Representatives have approved more than $ 40 billion in aid to Ukraine. The bill was to be submitted to the US Senate with high hopes for its adoption.
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According to the British Ministry of Defense, Russia could dominate the northwestern Black Sea if it manages to consolidate its positions on Snake Island.
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The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson will visit Finland and Sweden on Wednesday while considering whether to apply for NATO membership. Downing Street said it would discuss “broader security issues”.
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Ukrainian authorities say they have found the bodies of 44 civilians in the rubble of a building destroyed weeks ago in the northeastern city of Izyum.
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UN figures on Tuesday said 14 million Ukrainians had been forced to flee their homes by the end of April, including more than 5.9 million who had fled the country.
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In Washington, a senior US intelligence official testified Tuesday that eight to 10 Russian generals were killed in the war. Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, who heads the Defense Intelligence Agency, told a Senate committee that because Russia does not have a non-commissioned officer corps, its generals must enter battle zones and find themselves in dangerous positions.
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Zelensky used his evening address to pay tribute to Leonid Kravchuk, the first president of independent Ukraine, who died on Tuesday at the age of 88. Zelenski said Kravchuk showed courage and knew how to get the country to listen to him.
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