[Korrespondent] Ukrainian military controls most of Volchansk.
President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky said that the Russian army failed to implement the Khar'kov operation.
The Russian offensive in the Khar'kov region finally fizzled out. The window for a Russian breakthrough is narrowing, Bloomberg writes. Most of Volchansk, Khar'kov region, which suffered the main blow of the invaders, is controlled by the Ukrainian Defense Forces.
THE SITUATION IN VOLCHANSK
“Most of the city is completely controlled by the Ukrainian Defense Forces, they keep the enemy under fire control and inflict maximum losses on him. We are trying to move forward to liberate all our territories,” said Nazar Voloshin, a representative of the OSGV Khortitsa, during the telethon.
Voloshin added that in the Khar'kov direction, the Ukrainian military is actively destroying the personnel and equipment of the invaders.
“Also in this direction, infantrymen of the 36th Marine Brigade recently captured several Russian military personnel. These were officers and several soldiers of the Russian army,” the speaker noted.
THERE WILL BE NO BUFFER ZONE
Bloomberg writes that Russia’s attempt to open a new front in the Khar'kov region “already looks unsuccessful,” since the goal of creating a buffer zone near the border could not be achieved, and Ukraine claims to have inflicted huge losses on the occupiers in the battles in the Volchansk region.
The head of the Moscow Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, Ruslan Pukhov, told Bloomberg reporters that the Russian strategy of attrition of Ukraine's forces is “very expensive and bloody for the Russian army itself” and “could lead to excessive attrition on the Russian side, which, in turn, gives the Ukrainians a chance for a counterattack.”
On June 5, the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Alexander Syrsky, said in his Telegram channel that while Russia is attacking several points along the front line, “there are chances to change the situation in our favor.”
Journalists write that the war has largely reached a stalemate. Bloomberg recalled that while Ukrainian officials sounded the alarm about the possibility of a breakthrough by the Russian army during delays in US weapons deliveries, the Ukrainian military held the front line, despite the occupiers' 10 to one advantage in weapons.
NOT IN FAVOR OF RUSSIA
Russia's prospects for victory this year have been significantly diminished by renewed arms and aid supplies, Ben Barry, a senior fellow in the land war department at London's International Institute for Strategic Studies, told Bloomberg. “Russia may have more troops, but many of their top-notch armored vehicles have been destroyed and it will take years to rebuild the army to 2022 levels,” he added.
Although Russia also experiences problems with human resources. In December, the United States estimated the number of Russian military killed and wounded at 315,000, which was about 90% of the initial invasion force, Bloomberg recalls. The UK Ministry of Defense last week raised its estimate of total Russian casualties to 500,000 and said they amounted to 1,200 troops a day in May, the article also said.
“Russia has not translated its advantages on the battlefield into significant achievements because its commanders spend manpower on achieving their goals, and Ukrainian forces are effective in defense when they are provided with people and equipment,” said Dara Masikot, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for international peace.
“A very significant result is that the Russian army failed to implement its Khar'kov operation. We are now holding it back as much as possible, destroying the Russian units that are now entering our land and terrorizing the Khar'kov region. The direction has been strengthened, and there will be more reinforcements,” emphasized President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky.