Ukraine war briefing: Kharkiv campaign won’t deliver major Russian breakthrough – Nato general | Ukraine

Dan Sabag writes that Russia’s rapid advance in Kharkiv raises serious questions about Kiev’s ability to defend itself. Russia had telegraphed the operation in advance and Ukraine had been warned by Western intelligence, Sabbagh wrote – although military analysts stress that there explanations why Ukraine was forced to return. “It is suicidal for Ukraine to have its main line of defense on the border where The Russians can hit you with artillery and planning bombs and the Ukrainians do not have available weapons such as the Himars missile artillery to retaliate because of US restrictions,” said George Barros, an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War. As a result, Russian forces were able to cross the border into a relatively safe space are mobilizing in a sparsely populated “grey zone” of Ukraine.

Ukraine accused Russia of capture and kill civilians in the border town of Vovchansk and keeping about 35 to 40 people as “human shields”. “According to operational information, the Russian military, trying to gain a foothold in the city, did not allow local residents to evacuate,” Interior Minister Igor Klimenko said. “They started kidnapping people and taking them to basements.” Sergey Bolvinov, head of the investigative department of the police in the Kharkiv region: “The Russians keep them in one place and actually use them as a human shield, as their command headquarters is nearby. There was no immediate response from Moscow to the allegations.

Volodymyr Zelensky met with military leaders in the city of Kharkiv and said: “The situation in the Kharkiv region is generally under control and our soldiers are inflicting significant losses on the occupier. However, the area remains extremely difficult. We reinforce our parts.”

Prolonged air raid alert in most of Kharkiv area was picked up early Friday. Regional governor Oleg Sinegubov said at least five drones had struck Kharkiv. Public broadcaster Suspilne said an air alert was in effect for more than 16 and a half hours in the city of Kharkiv, the longest on record since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian attacks have destroyed one or more Russian warplanes and infrastructure at Belbek Air Base in occupied Crimea, according to reports based on satellite imagery and other resources. The pro-Ukrainian partisan unit Atesh said a warehouse in Belbek was hit, destroying ammunition for Russian warplanes. There are many fires in the Belbek complex detected by NASA’s fire tracking satellite, Firms, in recent days. The Ukrainian strikes using Atacms missiles were characterized by the occupation authorities as repulsed, in line with standard Russian official language that downplays Ukrainian operations.

The US has announced sanctions to two Russian individuals and three Russian companies for facilitating the transfer of arms between Russia and North Koreaincluding ballistic missiles for use against Ukraine.

Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un, has denied exchanging arms with Russia, state media KCNA reported. However, UN sanctions monitors found that debris from a the missile that fell in Kharkiv was from a North Korean Hwasong-11 series ballistic missile. This was stated by the spokesman of the US State Department, Matthew Miller Russia has already used more than 40 North Korean-made ballistic missiles against Ukraineas well as ammunition, having imported them in violation of UN resolutions.

The International Monetary Fund will begin a new mission to Ukraine in the coming weeks to assess its $15.6 billion loan program and recent economic developments, IMF spokeswoman Julie Kozak said. The loan review mission will also review the IMF’s analysis of Ukraine’s debt sustainability. “The Ukrainian economy has shown remarkable resilience. Although the outlook remains subject to extremely high war-related uncertainty.