(Dan Tri) – Russia is increasing its attacks on Kharkov in an effort to turn this place into a security buffer zone for Russia’s border areas against the threat of shelling.
Ukrainian firefighters put out a fire in an area in Kharkov after the Russian attack on May 10 (Photo: Reuters).
A senior Ukrainian military source said that Russian forces launched an armored vehicle attack in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine, near the border town of Vovchansk, early on the morning of May 10.
The attack opens a new front in the more than two-year conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
`At about 5:00 a.m., the enemy tried to break through our defenses with an attack supported by armored vehicles. To date, these attacks have been repelled, but battles with
A senior Ukrainian military source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Russian forces had advanced 1km inside the Ukrainian border in Kharkiv and were aiming to push Ukrainian forces back up to 10km.
`Russian troops increased their attacks on the northern front. First of all, the enemy attacked the town of Vovchansk. Attacks with air-guided bombs, MLRS and artillery continued throughout the night. There were attempts
Russia took control of Kharkov right from the first days of the military campaign.
However, recently, Moscow has begun to increase its attacks on Kharkov again, in an effort to turn Kharkov into a security buffer zone for Russia’s border regions.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently said that Kharkov `plays an important role` in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plan to establish demilitarized zones, as a way to push fighting as far away from Russia’s borders as possible.
According to the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Putin’s goal is to remove Russian territory from the range of Ukrainian weapons and long-range systems provided to Kiev by Western allies.
Kharkiv is one of the cities that Mr. Putin included in this list of hypothetical demilitarized zones.
ISW believes that to establish a security buffer zone 15km deep and hundreds of kilometers wide, Russia will have to launch a large-scale campaign, requiring larger and better-equipped forces than those deployed at the border.
The Kharkiv region (or Kharkiv) of Ukraine is located close to the Russian border (Graphic: BBC).
