- According to the BBC, Ukrainian military commanders complained of a lack of promised defense in Kharkov.
- President Yaroslavsky called the mine-like lack of defenses a “betrayal” and accused corruption and negligence.
- Russia has launched a new offensive on Kharkov, with an estimated 35,000 troops pushing forward on the northern front.
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The commander of Ukraine’s reconnaissance forces said there was a lack of protection in Kharkiv as Russia seeks to advance into the region, and accused officials of corruption and negligence.
“There was no first line of defense,” Denis Yaroslavsky said. BBC, Reported from Vovtyansk on Sunday. “We saw it. The Russians just walked in. They just walked in. There were no minefields.”
Jonathan Beale, the media’s defense correspondent, wrote that Yaroslavsky showed drone footage of Russian troops crossing the border in northeastern Ukraine without resistance.
Yaroslavsky, head of Ukraine’s Special Reconnaissance Unit, told the BBC that at least some of the defenses promised by officials were missing in Kharkov.
“It was either negligence or corruption. It was not a failure. It was a betrayal,” he said, according to the outlet.
At the time of the BBC report, he and his men were scheduled to be deployed to the front lines in Vovchansk.
The press office of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment sent outside normal business hours.
Located on the northeastern border of Kharkiv, Vovtyansk is one of the Ukrainian cities closest to Russia’s Belgorod region. Kharkov experienced months of heavy fighting in the early stages of the war, and was first occupied by Russian forces but later rejected by Kiev.
Russia is now seeking to reestablish a foothold in the region through a new offensive, claiming it will capture several border villages this weekend.
A few days earlier, the Ukrainian Military Observatory reported: 30,000 to 35,000 Russian troops We were coming together for a push.
Ukrainian military commander Oleksandr Shirushkyi said on Sunday that the situation in Kharkov was “significantly deteriorating.”
“Currently, fighting continues in the border areas along the state border with the Russian Federation,” Shirschiky said in the article. Telegram message.
It is unclear what the Kremlin intended for the new attack on Kharkiv. Russian leader Vladimir Putin suggested in March that Russia create a deal. “buffer zone” It can protect Belgorod from Ukrainian attacks, Kiev’s comments said. sign moscow They were preparing to attack the north.
The Kremlin has accused Ukraine of shelling Belgorod since 2022, amid repeated reports of Russian forces dropping false bombs and bombs on civilians there.
Most recently, Apartments in Belgorod Sunday’s shelling caused part of the building to collapse, killing 13 people and injuring 20 others, local authorities said. Russia claimed the deaths were caused by fragments of a Ukrainian missile intercepted by its air defense systems.
Regarding the fighting in Kharkov, Vovtyansk has reportedly been the focus of recent Russian attacks. conflicting reports Sunday about whether the settlement money was withheld.
According to the BBC, Bovchansk’s population was originally 20,000, but since the war began it has dwindled to 3,000, with thousands of people displaced.
Washington-based think tank Institute for the Study of War He estimates that if Russia wants to capture the city of Kharkov itself, it will need even more troops and equipment on the Northern Front.
The paper cited a March report by Russia’s independent news outlet Verstka, citing Kremlin officials, who said Russia would need 10 times the estimated number of troops already deployed to surround and take control of Kharkiv. He said this would require approximately 300,000 additional troops.
ISW assessed that Russia was able to attack Bovchansk primarily because Western countries restricted Ukraine from attacking military targets with NATO-provided equipment.
The United States has recently approved: $25.7 billion It contains weapons and ammunition destined for Ukraine, including artillery shells that Kiev desperately needs to stop the Russian advance.