Ukraine prepares to defend Russia’s push in Kharkiv region | BBC News

we begin in Ukraine this hour as fighting continues around the city of harv after Russia made its biggest territorial gains in 18 months in the past few hours Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Russia has no current plans to capture the city of har in the northeast of the country but in the region itself police are going door too in the town of V Chans to evacuate the remaining residents as Russian shelling intensifies these images are from V Russia launched a surprise offensive there last week with one analysis suggesting Russian forces have advanced by about 10 kilometers creating a new front in the war on Ukraine a 16 and a half hour air raid alert has now been lifted in harke itself let’s speak to our Ukraine correspondent James Waterhouse who’s in the capital keave James hello to you so there seems to be um a little bit of um a difference isn’t there between what President Putin is saying that there are no plans to capture harke and what we’re actually seeing happening on the ground there absolutely and you can see in those pictures how this war has now firmly moved from trench warfare in this northeastern part of the front line now I don’t think the words of Vladimir Putin where he said in at a press conference in China that there were no plans for now to try and capture the city of of hard I don’t think that will bring a collective sigh of relief for the thousands of people still living in the city I think there are two things at play firstly I don’t think this collection of Russian forces these sort of between 5 to 10,000 estimated troops that have made this incursion across the border it’s not yet thought they are capable of surrounding the city especially when you consider that around 880,000 Russian troops were involved in capturing a town called a diva further south which is a fraction of the size of har um and so but secondly I don’t think anyone believes what Vladimir Putin when he talks about his plans for this continued Invasion because once upon a time in 2022 he said he had no plans to invade Ukraine so I think that has shaped uh the common Ukrainian view since then he also talked about I think he almost reflected his his lack of willingness to compromise he talked about Ukraine’s conditions for peace which include restoring its original borders so that would include Crimea which has been occupied since 2014 uh and for Russian forces to withdraw completely he described those conditions as being based on wishes and not the realities of the battlefield and I think that is the rub at the moment at this moment in time and that is why we can expect Fierce fighting to uh certainly continue uh amid that Fierce fighting what sort of assessments are you hearing from the Ukrainian side about their cap ability to to hold the line as they wait for resupply of Munitions from America and elsewhere yeah I think you just need to look at what president zalinski is saying you know he’s he has canceled international travel he’s visited the city of harv and he described the situ situation as being very difficult but under control and the authorities have said this before when Ukraine has ultimately lost more territory and he is claiming that the Russians have uh their Advance has gone gone around 10 km at its deepest and he blames the lack of air defenses which is still pushing the West for uh for them being able to push in this far in terms of the heavy bombardments that they’ve been able to launch these Russian forces so he is blaming that but it is clear his troops are struggling they are moving Reserve forces away from towns like chazar which is coming under heavy attacks still and has done for months they’re moving Personnel from zapia even further south and so what that means is is while Ukraine tries to plug this Gap and tries to slow this Russian advance in the Northeast it thins the front line elsewhere it is a front line that is creaking and crucially for Ukraine it’s growing too James thank you very much James waterhous in keave and earlier I spoke to reporter for the KE independent Francis Farrell who’s in harke and I asked him whether he agreed with president’s l ‘s assessment that the situation in har had stabilized for the moment well it is too early to say to be perfectly honest with you about whether Russian territorial gains will continue in the harv region to to move forward or not it has they have slowed down uh and we know uh most certainly that they don’t plan to try and Surround or assault this huge City in the short term even Putin said today himself that that wasn’t the plan but as for the stabilization it’s it Still Remains uh too early to say because they certainly want to get within artillary range of of K and overall they just want to pressure the Ukrainian military as much as possible on as many fronts as possible uh before mobilization starts to kick in a bit more and more of the western Aid starts to arrive yeah and reports from uh the chief of Ukraine’s Army uh saying that Ukrainian troops are preparing to defend uh the Sumi area as well just explain for our viewers geographically where that is in relation to Haren and have you heard those reports also Francis yes so we’ve we’ve we’ve heard about that and um that’s definitely something that the whole country is potentially waiting for another similar crossborder operation to find um weak points in in the contact lines Sumi oblast is just Northwest of harv and it’s a huge long winding border several hundred kilometers long and so if Ukraine can’t U basically protect that whole area with enough reserves then Russia could find a weak point and could uh look to to to carry out another similarly opportunistic offensive to just stretch the Ukrainian forces even further and let’s talk now to our Ukrainian reporter Olga maleva on what’s known about what’s happening in the town of of Chans Olga this is a new ter not a new territory for the Russian forces they had been here before the town of of Chans as you can see in the east of Ukraine had been occupied before by the Russian troops in the very beginning of their open scale invasion in the beginning of 2022 and we can see here that it is not close to the city of har so it is roughly over 10 kilometers away from the city of H now we can see that the town of ofans is very close to the Russian border and Ukrainian authorities claim that they still control it although there were street fights now we managed to obtain a footage from the Ukrainian border service which shows the heavy fighting in the town of w Chans here we can see the footage which we managed to get from the border service and we can see how Ukrainian troops are trying to to Target Russian troops and here exactly on that particular bit we can see the street fighting in the town so Ukrainian authorities claim that Russians still don’t control the town of ofans although they also admit that the situation there is very heavy and that there are Street fightings at the north of the town now I managed to reach some locals who are trying to carry on evacuation of people from the from that region and what they told me is that it is not possible to penetrate to the town before because of the heavy fighting although they also told me that they managed to evacuate around 6,000 people from the town of of Chans and around and the towns around of it and the situation remains really heavy Anita Olga thank you very much

Ukrainian troops are preparing to defend the north-western city of Sumy in the Kharkiv region, as Russia continues its summer offensive.

Russian forces have already penetrated the border area near Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city in recent weeks.

The US-based Institute for the Study of War think tank believes Putin’s main aim is to create a buffer zone, as does Russian military analyst Anatoly Matviychuk.

Subscribe here: http://bit.ly/1rbfUog

For more news, analysis and features visit: www.bbc.com/news

#BBCNews

47 comments

  2. Meanwhile… the situation on the battlefield is developing, to put it mildly, not the best way for Kiev, in Kharkov Zelensky held a meeting of the rate, which discussed the readiness of Ukrainian troops to defend the city. The reason was the information of the British military intelligence that the Armed Forces would not be able to protect Kharkiv and Sumy in the event of the transition of the Russian Armed Forces to active offensive actions in these areas.

    Zelensky demanded from the political wing a full audit of the fortifications. From the military – to build up the group at the expense of the hidden transfer of forces and means from the Kherson and Zaporizhia directions, as well as defence reserves of Kiev.

    The command meeting discussed issues of city retention until December. Head of the State Department Anthony Blinken has categorically forbidden to surrender Kharkov earlier than the end of the elections in the United States. The Pentagon will increase the speed of deliveries and will allocate an additional $2 billion for antimissiles for Patriot, which will buy in Japan,- says TG Win/Win.

    It is curious that in the report of the British, in addition to Sum and Kharkov, Chernigov, Odessa and even Kiev appear.

    Military experts write that the Ukrainian army has managed to localize the breakthrough of the Russians in the Kharkiv direction by transferring a huge amount of infantry and equipment from other directions and rear. But their losses are terrible. Russian troops actively level the enemy positions with aerial bombs and artillery, a lot of used barrage ammunition "Lancet", which easily catch the equipment of the Armed Forces even on the bypass Kharkov.

  5. 😂😂😂! British Broadcasting Comedy? Why is there a manpower shortage in Ukraine?! The shovels mopped them out? PR has its limit. Ukraine is on the back foot. Report facts that the masters might be forced to stop this war. Ala Gaza.

  7. Russia couldn't capture a flag in flag football. No chance they are capturing Ukraine. They might keep a few villages though * golf clap *

  9. Amazing isn’t it when the West labeled Russia “A gas station posing as a country” they simultaneously and quite easily continue to beat the crap out of the US,EU and NATO combined. What’s more, as the man said “You ain’t seen nothing yet”

  10. the BBC has become a propaganda arm of the British government. Why does the BBC not tell the public that this war could have been averted two years ago after Zalensky met in Istanbul and agreed in principle to Russias terms. Then along came Boris and told him those terms would not work for the US and UK governments.

  11. Putin has no plan to capture Kharkiv, it is just so that Kharkiv present itself to Putin, what a confusing Putin propaganda playbook, it is just playing its usual game of make-believe, just as everybody knows that Putin is a notorious liar and deadly blackmailer.

  12. When is common sense going to kick in here because Russia is clearly winning and negotiate is the only way to stop Ukraine losing many more lives and land, the longer Ukraine fights the more they lose, accept Ukraine is being destroyed and negotiate

  13. Once upon a time You told Us Russia is Losing but in Reality They are gaining Territory every single day..stop fooling People with The Fake Media of Yours..!!!

  14. Mysterious Putin!.. I don't understand what is in his mind🤔
    He could destroy completely with Carpet bombing,city of Kharkov. He doesn't!
    He can attack immediately: He doesn't! He waits…😊
    The man is in other Dimension!!!

  19. the game's up, it seems. BBC telling the truth finally – at least partially. till a month back, it was ukraine is winning and russia is losing miserably. 🙂 keep supporting zelensky – send more money and weapons. they'll burn it while BBC says it's a game changer. "difficult but under control" – i just need a little more money. oliver asks for more. er olive fatigues, i mean

  24. biggest teritorial gans in 18 months?

    what about the avdiivka push thats still ongoing since weeks that has been absolutely shattering to the ukrainian defenses?

  27. Sources within the SBU reported that on May 20th a mass razzia on men is planned by the TCC with full support of the police. I advise all Ukrainian military aged men to stay at home from the 19th to the 22nd. But it’s even better to stay at home for as long as possible. Don't say later that I didn't warn you…

  28. The appearance of F-16s will not play a key role, says Führer Zelenskyy, Ukraine needs at least 120 to 130 modern aircraft. Russia’s breakthrough in the Kharkov region is not a line of defense. “ They came across the border, and the defense line is further,” Führer Zelenskyy said. The overdue Führer also promised a new counter-offensive (to recapture Rabotino), but could not yet name its date. According to him, now it’s Russia’s turn to lead the offensive.

  31. The BBC and CNN are disinformation organs close to the White House, which is why they call it the White House, and with all the deaths they have caused in the world it should be called the Black House. However, the BBC, CNN and FOX are tied to power, now they show us the poor people that Zelenskj wanted to create, but they never really showed us what the Marines and Royals did in Iraq and Afghanistan… like Have they never created a scene like Bucha, north of Kiev there? The showgirls you read are the result of pathetic Anglo-Saxon paranoia.

  37. I think the millions of dollars that were allocated to fake construction companies that don't exist to buld defensive works in the northern region kind of assisted Russia somewhat . Bellendsky is losing on the Battlefield as much as the BBC are loosing in the fact field 😂😂😂

  38. Украинские власти взорвали Дарью Дугину, Владлена Татарского, Захара Прилепина, Александра Захарченко, Александра Шубина, Арсена Павлова, застрелили Олесь Бузина, Илью Кива, Михаила Толстых.ГУР украины организовал покушение на премьер-министра Словакии Роберта Фицо, который высказывался против принятия украины в ЕС и НАТО. Также они организовали подрыв Крымского моста, Северного потока, курировали теракт в Крокус Сити Холл, сожгли ЗАЖИВО 48 русских в Доме Профсоюзов, расстреляли жителей Мариуполя на 9 мая в 2014 г.. Отказались выполнять Минские соглашение и под давлением Британского премьера не стали подписывать, выгодный для них, мирный договор в 2022 г.. Неужели ещё кто-то думает, что во всём виновата ТОЛЬКО Россия???!!

  44. Whoever is responsible for the title of this video needs to go work in the mail room. The Ukraine isn’t preparing to defend Russia’s push. They are preparing to defend against it. Duh.

  45. Unlike the unfortunate civilians of Donbas who have been harassed and murdered as part of the US and NATO backed Galician (Banderas) Nazis pogrom of ethnic cleansing since 2014, now extended to Russia, the civilians in Kharkiv are not being targeted by a law abiding Russia. Obviously, Russia, having come this far, must take Kharkiv and Odessa as well fortifying the Suwalki Gap and establishing a land bridge to Transnistria. As I wrote in 2022 after the US, UK, France and Germany torpedoed the peace deals of Istanbul and Minsk (1 & 2)

Leave a Reply