Russia gains ground in eastern Ukraine, thousands evacuated in Kharkiv region • FRANCE 24 English

President Vladimir zinski says that intense battles are being fought in two border areas one in the East the other in the northeast of the country well out gunned and outnumbered Ukrainian soldiers are trying to push back the advancing Russian army meanwhile on the Russian side of the Border in the city of belgrod 15 people are reported to have been killed in Ukrainian shelling of an apartment building a little earlier on I spoke to France Force Andrew hilia who told us more about the goals of this Russian offensive this latest pH of fighting it began last Friday that’s when Russian troops began pouring over the border into Northeastern Ukraine uh there’s been Fierce fighting all weekend now at least seven Villages appear to have been uh captured by the Russians Russia claims that it’s captured at least nine what Ukrainian officials are telling me is that there’s heavy fighting for the village of luany and also for the town of vchan which you can see on the map there it’s located very close to the Russian bord Ukrainian officials telling me that that town is under heavy shelling and that it’s currently being evacuated the town had a pre-war population of 17,000 until last Friday that had dwindled to about 2 and a half thousand now just a few hundred uh people uh remaining Ukrainian officials are telling me as I said that evacuation is underway now uh when I reported from uh this region in Ukraine back in December 2022 what my team saw were Engineers working to repair critical infrastructure such as electricity infrastructure so that people could return to their homes so if indeed uh Ukraine does lose ground here that could be a very big blow to morale indeed okay and what you read into the timing of this renewed Russian push in those border areas well look Ukrainian forces have been on the defensive for for the last few months now that’s in part due to a slow down in supplies of Western military aid particularly from the US so that’s given Moscow a slight advantage in terms of Munitions um so I think what could be happening here is that Moscow may be trying to exploit a small window of opportunity before the arrival of fresh military aid from the West in the next few weeks and months it’s also I think worth asking the question what are Russia’s military objectives here and why have they picked this part of Ukraine well there could be several reasons for that one uh to pin down Ukrainian troops in the hak region which would then draw reserves away from the dunet region which is of course an area that Russia is very very intense on capturing um also another reason could be to put KH within range of Russian Artillery that would then open Ukraine’s Second City uh up to a potential Russian assault sometime in the near future another possible final reason here could be to create a buffer zone between kiv and the Russian border to protect Russian cities like belgaro just over the border which has as you mentioned earlier been the frequent Target of Ukrainian attacks okay so we got here we’ve got the Russian

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky says his troops are locked in intense battles with the advancing Russian army in two border areas. Fierce fighting has been focused on the town of Vovchansk in Kharkiv region. Hundreds of civilians have been evacuated from the scene as Russian strikes are stepped up. Andrew Hilliar has more on the Russians’ advance and what could Moscow’s objectives be in the region.
#Ukraine #Russia #NATO

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38 comments

  1. Ukrainian forces seems to be fleeing instead of fighting against Russian onslaught, Zelensky has hurriedly changed the commander of the forces in Kharkiv, like they usually say 'the situation is difficult'

  4. About ~30 thousand Russian troops were killed during Russian assault on Avdivka which moved front line by ~20 km in 7 months.
    … There are ~7-10 thousand Russian troops participating in this new attack, what do you think they can achieve …. ?

  8. funny enough but the sole purpose of all the attacks on Belgorod for the last year was to proclaim another victory in the media by forcing the Russian government to evacuate the city thereby showing their weakness, literally fuck around and find out

  13. Why not just listen to their stated objectives from the very start… which have remained exactly the same, and which have been shown by every action Russia has taken.

  14. I like the way he points out that lack of supplies from the US has led to a SLIGHT advantage to Russia and a SMALL window of opportunity. So we can go to sleep safely, Ukraine is safe.

  18. As Putin said in October (and DW never reported at the time); the goal is a "buffer zone". Russia will carve enough territory to ensure no more rocket and artillery attacks, right out of Ukraine's hide…

  20. Ukraine is losing only because of Biden's betrayal. This was the betrayal of 2014. it was a betrayal of 2022, Lend-Lease was thrown into the trash. Putin knew when to attack Ukraine. He remained silent during the Trump administration. Why?

  28. the west rejects to admit that, the western domination era is over. The sanctions are jokes, coz the non-western countries can not produce everything with similar quality as the west, but at a much bigger quantity.

  29. It's mind boggling, if all this is over joining NATO. NATO might as well offer Russia a seat. (But the US doesnt want a country that can stare into their eyes and say 'nyet'). How else can we explain how Ukraine is more 'European' or 'North Atlantic' all of a sudden. We could ask the same question of a few other countries. The mix of orthodox christians, dash of muslims and rowdy ganja smoking eurovision woke mob is going to sink NATO/EU the expansion is going to cause an implosion.

  30. 😮😮😮😮 PROPAGANDA at its best. " Lack of Wester arms to UKRAINE has given RUSSIA a slight advantage " says this uninformed bloke. Who told him that UKRAINE has ever had any advantage over RUSSIA? RUSSIA has never used its full military might om UKRAINE from day one. Someone should tell thst empty headed bloke.

  33. Why, when NATO is acting as a proxy, are Ukrainian soldiers outnumbered and outgunned?

    Is not the combined west losing ground? It seems that the West has given up.
    It is a silly point of view, but it rings true for me.

  37. there not winning there losing msm just leaft the story bec they knew game over is nxt
    anyway many are surrendering than fighting worst part is zelensky s internal enemies are piloting to oust him out of power by the zulushny faction in the military

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