One person was killed and five were injured “as a result of hostile artillery and mortar attacks”, the Kharkiv regional military administration told the Telegram. Despite the bombing, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said: “The situation in the Kharkiv region is dire. “But our army, our intelligence, have significant tactical success.” Ukrainian forces say they have recaptured a “strategically important” village, Ruska Lozova, near Kharkiv, and evacuated hundreds of civilians. A Kharkiv resident, Antonina, told Agence France-Presse that she had returned home and found that a rocket had broken into her building and entered her bathroom. “When I got home, everything was ruined. It was scary,” he said. Three months after the failed invasion of Kyiv in the short-term, Russia is now stepping up operations in the eastern Donbass region and tightening its grip on the devastated southern port city of Mariupol. A senior NATO official said Russia had made only “small” and “unequal” progress in trying to encircle enemy positions as Ukrainian forces retaliated. The Pentagon said the Kremlin’s eastern attack was “off schedule” as air strikes could not facilitate lightning ground attacks. Russia has been forced to merge and redeploy units from failed advances in northeastern Ukraine, the United Kingdom’s defense ministry said in its latest intelligence report released Saturday morning. “Russia hopes to rectify issues that previously limited its invasion by geographically concentrating combat power, shortening supply lines and simplifying command and control. Russia still faces significant challenges. He was forced to merge and redeploy exhausted and disparate units from the failed advances in northeastern Ukraine. Many of these units are likely to suffer from impaired morale. “There are still shortcomings in Russia’s regular coordination. “The lack of unit-level skills and inconsistent air support have left Russia unable to fully utilize its battlefield, despite local improvements.” Zelensky said in his speech that Russia wanted to make Donbas “uninhabitable”. “The occupiers are doing everything to destroy any life in this area,” he said. “The constant brutal bombings, the constant Russian incursions into infrastructure and residential areas show that Russia wants to make this area uninhabitable.” Zelensky described Mariupol as a “Russian concentration camp in the middle of the rubble.” “And the class of occupiers in this part of Mariupol that they unfortunately still control is slightly different from what the Nazis did in the occupied territories of Eastern Europe,” he said. Ukrainian authorities said they had planned to evacuate civilians on Friday from the besieged Azovstal steel plant, the last shelter in Mariupol where hundreds were sheltered by Ukrainian troops. The Ukrainian president called for a stronger global response to Thursday’s strikes in the capital, Kyiv, which were followed by talks in the city with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. “It’s unfortunate, but such a deliberate and brutal humiliation of the United Nations by Russia has gone unanswered,” he said. Guterres has also toured Bucha and other suburbs of Kiev where Moscow is said to have committed war crimes. Russia denies killing civilians Guterres later posted on the Internet: “I am moved by the resilience and bravery of the people of Ukraine. My message to them is simple: we will not give up. “ Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, claimed that one million people had left Ukraine for Russia. Ukraine says people have been detained at the border against their will. Discussing peace talks between Moscow and Kiev, Lavrov said the lifting of sanctions on Russia was part of the negotiations. He said the conversations were “difficult”, but continued daily with a video conference. Kyiv, however, has warned that talks are in danger of collapsing, and Zelensky insisted from the invasion that Western sanctions on Russia needed to be strengthened and could not be part of the negotiations. Ukraine and Russia have not held face-to-face peace talks since March 29. In his last speech, Zelensky also said that Ukraine would soon eliminate fuel shortages, even though Russian forces had destroyed several oil depots. This week, Russia hit Ukraine’s main fuel producer, the Kremenchuk oil refinery, as well as several other large warehouses. “Queues and rising prices at gas stations are observed in many parts of our country,” said Zelensky. “The occupiers are deliberately destroying the infrastructure of production, supply and storage of fuel. “Russia has also blocked our ports, so there are no immediate solutions to make up the deficit. “But government officials promise that within a week or two at the most, there will be a fuel supply system in Ukraine that will prevent shortages.” Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said the shortfalls would be eliminated within a week, as Ukrainian operators had secured contracts with European suppliers. With Reuters, the Associated Press and AFP
