Zelensky in Kharkiv as Ukraine demands a partial halt to the Russian offensive | News of the war between Russia and Ukraine

Ukrainian leader meets senior military commanders and wounded soldiers and says the situation is “very difficult” but “under control.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to the city of Kharkiv and said the situation in the northeast was “under control” after the army managed to partially halt Russian advances, most notably thwarting an invasion of the key border town of Vovchansk.

He added, “The situation in the Kharkiv region is generally under control, and our soldiers are inflicting great losses on the occupier.” “However, the region remains very difficult,” Zelensky said Thursday in a Telegram post after hearing reports from his commanders in the capital of the Kharkiv region, where Russia launched a lightning incursion last week.

The Ukrainian army said it slowed the advance of Russian forces during what was described as one of the harshest phases of the war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had previously said that Russia was advancing on “all fronts”, and the army had made significant territorial gains in the Kharkiv region, claiming to have also taken control of territory in the eastern Donetsk and southern Zaporizhia regions.

“The situation in the Kharkiv sector remains complex, but it is developing in a dynamic way,” Ukrainian army spokesman Nazar Voloshin told state television on Thursday. “Our defense forces have succeeded in partially stabilizing the situation,” he added, adding that the enemy’s advance in certain areas and towns has been halted.

In Kharkiv, I went to see our defenders who were wounded in the battles in the Kharkiv region. I spoke to them and presented them with state awards.

I am grateful to our warriors for their service and courage. Ukraine is proud of them all.

I also want to thank our medical staff… pic.twitter.com/9xUFxHxe4B

– Volodymyr Zelensky / Video (@ZelenskyyUa) May 16, 2024

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a statement that the military was able to prevent Russian plans “to penetrate deeper into the town of Vovchansk and gain a foothold there.”

If Vovchansk, located five kilometers from the border, had been controlled, it would have been Russia’s most important gain since it launched an incursion into the region last Friday.

However, reports of Ukrainian progress have been contradicted by Vitaly Ganchev, a Russia-appointed official in Ukraine. He claimed that Vovchansk was on the “brink of complete liberation” and said that Russian forces were approaching the village of Liptse, located on one of the main roads leading to Kharkiv.

“Our men are already on the outskirts,” he told Russian state television. Work has begun to liberate it. Aviation and artillery are working continuously and do not stop.”

Accusations

On Thursday, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klimenko accused Russia of detaining and killing civilians in Vovchansk while trying to enter.

“According to intelligence reports, the Russian army, which was trying to gain a foothold in the city, did not allow residents to evacuate. “They started kidnapping people and taking them to the basements.”

He added that there are reports that the Russian army opened fire on civilians. “A resident of Vovchansk tried to escape on foot, refused to obey the invaders’ orders, and was killed by the Russians.”

The reports have not yet been independently verified.

Russian soldiers have previously been accused of executing civilians in parts of Ukraine they have seized and controlled since the February 2022 invasion. In April 2022, the bodies of dozens of civilians, some with their hands bound, were found in the Bucha suburb of Kiev after it was occupied for a month by troops. Russian.

Ukraine has had to evacuate nearly 9,000 people from the Kharkiv region since Russia launched the new offensive, regional governor Oleg Sinigubov said Thursday.

Between May 9 and 15, Russia made some of its most significant gains since December 2022, seizing 278 square kilometers (107 square miles) of territory, according to AFP calculations, using data from the Institute for the Study of War.