Ukraine struggles to hold back Russia incursion near Kharkiv | BBC News

Ukraine struggles to hold back Russia incursion near Kharkiv | BBC News

well meanwhile let’s talk about Ukraine because more American weapons are on their way to the front line there and for that country’s troops really those supplies can’t come quickly enough Russian forces we know are making advances in the area around the city of kiv they’ve seized a string of villages and they forced thousands of Ukrainian civilians to flee from those areas and the message that more Us weapons are coming was delivered uh in person by the US Secretary of State Anthony blinkin he’s arrived in keev he came by sleeper train for a surprise unannounced visit for talks with President Vladimir zelinski it’s the first visit to Ukraine by senior Us official since Congress finally passed that long delayed $61 billion military aid package for Ukraine last month well our Ukraine correspond James Waterhouse has been following Anthony blink’s visit for us good morning St you again a 9-hour sleeper train is still the best way to Kiev even if you’re America’s top Diplomat a quick switch to a more familiar motocade before a long day of meetings first up for Anthony blinkin president zalinski not simple period for Ukraine and a tough period for for the east of our country for our Warriors thank you that you came especially these days to support Ukraine many this is the first highlevel US visit since the unblocking of a $61 billion military package for Kev welcomed yes but delayed by political disagreements and now slow deliveries we know this is a challenging time but we also know that um in the near term the assistance is now on the way uh some of it’s already arrived more of it will be arriving and and that’s going to make a real difference against the ongoing Russian aggression on the battlefield and this is what it looks like now a year and a half of stalemate has suddenly turned into a significant Russian offensive in a week thousands are fleeing their homes in the northeastern har region Russian bombs have rain down for 5 days and invading troops are getting closer keep talking to us says this police officer it’s a 71-year-old Olga she was injured in an explosion and their car is now an ambulance they meet paramedics we’re told she’s in a serious condition the newly homeless end up here in Ukraine’s Second City harv people are terrified they are stressed they take they keep their uh animals with them uh so everyone is in a huge stress because of the constant Chon and of the shock of the Russian offensive for now harv city is a place of relative safety but for how long while few think the Russians are capable of taking it they could soon be in artillery range missiles routinely hit harv if this offensive isn’t contained the destruction will be even greater Ukraine is struggling to hold what is a new front line uh well we can go straight to James now James Waterhouse our Ukraine correspondent who’s live for us in keev and I suppose as I mentioned at the beginning these weapons that Anthony blinkin says are coming these new weapon supplies they can’t come quickly enough really for Ukraine and for those Frontline forces who are dealing with this kind of surprise offensive which has been launched near KH absolutely I mean Ukraine Ben is adamant that this wasn’t a surprise that it was merely sudden but the inescapable reality is that its troops are struggling to contain this joint incursion uh and it’s not just in the hariv region there are more than a 100 evacuations planned uh in settlements in the Sumi region further north where there is constant shelling in another part of Ukraine which borders Russia and it’s there that that an attack is anticipated too you know the dimensions of this Invasion are changing dramatically in Russia’s favor now of course whenever you have the military activity you have the politics behind it and Anthony blinkin the US Secretary of State has just gone for a working Lunch close to where I am in a pizzeria with his Ukrainian counterpart dimitro kbba not a bad place to take an American visitor and as you say the tone is very much of reassurance but the problem for Ukraine does doesn’t just rest with delayed American Weaponry the country admits that it’s already dragging what few Reserve forces it has to the hardk region uh where it is Al where they are still struggling so things are looking really difficult for Ukraine in this perilous period and is is there a sense really that Russia has been taking advantage of the the sort of delay in getting these extra Us weapons into Ukraine and using that time to mount these new attacks absolutely I think I think we’ve seen a gradual taper since last October which is actually when the political disagreements really started to affect the freeing up of this American age you had uh more and more Ukrainian units having to ration ammunition whereas you had Russia remaining on a war footing mobilizing more men which Ukraine incidentally has struggled with uh as as by way of a of of a of a domestic Challenge and so what Russia has done notably in the East was uh take uh more and more Ukrainian territory square kilometer by square kilometer it had a trophy in the form of the town of ab divka they haven’t stopped there their tactics are costly um but uh it’s now changing to a new dimension James very good to see you thank you very much for that James Waterhouse there our Ukraine correspondents so let’s talk a bit more about what are the uh arms and weapons that the United States is supplying to Ukraine and how they could make a difference on the front line well the aid package agreed by Congress is as we mentioned worth more than $60 billion it includes air defense interceptors surface to aair missiles designed to combat enemy bombers and reconnaissance planes uh there’s also more artillery which has been in short supply as Ukrainian troops try to fight off those advances James was just telling us about and finally the US has sent attacks now these are long ranged Precision guided missiles they can strike Russian targets at a range of up to 300 kilometers uh separately the European Union’s agreed another 50 billion euros worth of Aid after Hungary stopped blocking that deal and the UK is sending another 500 million on top of the 2 and a half billion pounds in military aid it has already pledged to give Ukraine this year so let’s talk then to to Elena trob who’s executive director for Ukraine’s independent defense anti-corruption committee and from Ukraine’s point of view um these weapons are coming from all these different countries I’ve just run through but it’s still not enough absolutely it’s not enough their six months delay of assistance package from the US Congress caused not only um Ukraine losing territories on the Eastern front but also significant damage to Ukrainian uh civilian infrastructure Ukrainian energy infrastructure there was a recent uh analysis published just yesterday that Russia doubled its effort uh in bombarding Ukraine with missiles and withdrawn in those six months that we were experiencing the assistance delay and Ukrainian interception rate of missile Russian missiles fell from 70% to 46% and therefore a lot of uh nuclear a lot of energy infrastructure objects were destroyed and uh basically uh this is emergency we need to receive uh much uh uh more assistance when it comes to air defense and this recent package does include U uh missiles for Patriots for Noms um however it’s maybe around only 10% what is urgently needed to protect Ukrainian um uh territory from the Air Attack that Russia is now indeed intensified So when you say it’s not enough is the Ukrainian position really look we’re grateful for what you’re doing to us giving to us from the West we’re grateful for all the money the billions that you’ve spent on these weapon supplies but at the same time we’re frustrated because there has been this delay in particular with the American weapons and frustrated we’re not getting exactly what we need to stop all these bombard Ms uh exactly Ukraine now relies very much on um our International Partners without International support we will not be able to uh sustain our defense it’s absolutely clear however um the lack of um missiles for example last month caused their damage to our for trila uh Power Plant which is the largest uh thermal uh Power generating facility near KF for millions and millions of uh um uh dollars for 100 millions and uh this damage will be very hard to repair and the money needed to repair this damage in order for ukrainians not to freeze in winter is already some tremendous amounts and therefore we explain that because we delaying this assistance the consequences may be irreversible and the the need to support Ukraine will be become even greater because we’ll be dealing with essentially the threat of humanitarian uh disaster in Ukraine this winter very good to talk to Elena trob who’s executive director for Ukraine’s independent defense anti-corruption committee thank you for your time thank you for inviting me

Ukraine is struggling to hold back a major Russian incursion near its second biggest city of Kharkiv.

Thousands of people are fleeing their homes in the northeastern region, as missiles routinely target the area.

The cross-border offensive is one of the most significant Russian ground attacks since the start of the war.

During a surprise visit to Kyiv on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told President Volodymyr Zelensky that military aid is “now on its way”.

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