According to CCTV News on May 18, the Russian Ministry of Defense said on the 17th local time that the Russian army continued to advance the front in the Kharkov area and controlled 12 settlements in the area in the past week. In the past 24 hours, the Russian army shot down 123 unmanned aerial vehicles of the Ukrainian army in Crimea and Krasnodar border area, and the Russian navy also destroyed 25 unmanned aerial vehicles of the Ukrainian army.
The Ukrainian State News Agency reported on the 17th that Ukrainian Defense Minister Umerov said in an interview with the US media that the situation on the Kharkov front is difficult, but it has been controlled, and Ukraine needs more weapons to stabilize the situation. On the same day, the Ukrainian army announced that it had attacked Russian personnel and tanks and other equipment in the direction of Kharkov.
Images of Russian troops fighting in the front line Source: CCTV news video screenshot
Ukraine says more than 9300 people have been evacuated from Kharkov state
On May 17 local time, the National Emergency Service of Ukraine announced that, as of 12 noon that day, more than 9300 people in Kharkov State had been evacuated to safety by the rescue personnel of the National Emergency Service of Ukraine, Ukrainian national police, volunteers, etc.
Location of Kharkov, Ukraine's second largest city Source: CCTV News
Kharkov is the second largest city in Ukraine It is also an important industrial center and transportation hub in Ukraine. It has the Kharkov Morozov Mechanical Design Bureau and the Mareshev Transportation Machinery Factory, which started with the manufacture of steam locomotives. It is a military industrial city famous for tanks and vehicle diesel engines in the Soviet era.
Ukraine Cabinet Approves Two Appointments of Deputy Ministers of Defense
According to CCTV News, the Ukrainian state news agency reported on May 17 that, At the Ukrainian Cabinet meeting held on the same day, a number of personnel changes were approved, and Ivan Gavrilyuk was appointed as the first deputy minister of Ukraine's Ministry of Defense Alexander Baranuca was appointed as the deputy minister of Ukraine's Ministry of Defence in charge of European integration.
Ivan Gavrilyuk was appointed as the First Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine Photo source: CCTV News
On April 23 local time, the Ukrainian State News Agency reported that at the cabinet meeting held on the same day, the Ukrainian government passed a number of personnel decisions, including the removal of Vitaly Polovinko, the deputy minister of the Ministry of Defence, and the appointment of Mikhail Mernik as the head of the military and political administration of Sumy Prefecture.
Extended reading:
Expert: Putin wants to win Kharkov or help Trump win re-election as US president
Russian new T-80 tank strikes Ukrainian positions
According to the news of the tide, Sun Tzu's Art of War: The Real and the False: "So The war is changeable and the water is changeable 。 The one who can win because of the change of the enemy is called God. "
Recently, on the battlefield between Russia and Ukraine, the Russian army suddenly opened a new front in northern Ukraine, pointing directly at Kharkov, Ukraine's second largest city, an important industrial town and a transportation hub. At the same time, the Russian army's operations in the Donbas and Dnieper River areas are also continuing. Is Putin's main target Kharkov, Dnieper River or Odessa? Still shrouded in the thick fog of war.
If Kharkov falls into Russia's hands, what major impact will it have on the international situation? Many experts on international and military issues expressed similar views when they were interviewed by Tide News: this will probably have a key impact on the direction of the U.S. general election in November, and become a "divine assistance" to promote the Republican presidential candidate Trump's victory in the election. Putin fought not only a military war, an economic war, but also a political war on the battlefield.
On the 10th, several buildings in Kharkov were hit by missiles, and the scene was in a mess
The Russian army has arrived 50 kilometers away from Kharkov City, and the commander of the Ukrainian front line has been replaced
According to CCTV news and reference news reports, the Russian offensive began on May 10, using aviation, artillery, infantry and armored vehicles to cross the Russian Ukrainian border south and launch an attack on Kharkov State. The Ministry of National Defense of Uzbekistan said in a statement: "Since about 5 a.m., the enemy troops have tried to break through our defense line under the cover of armored vehicles."
According to CNN, the Russian army has assembled about 50000 troops to launch an attack on the northern border, and the front front is about 60 kilometers wide. Russia also revealed that the Uzbek army lost about 170 military personnel and 34 Uzbek soldiers were captured.
According to the BBC, Jaroslavsky, commander of Urumqi's special reconnaissance force, said that there was "no first line of defense" at the Kharkov front. He said: "We saw the Russians coming in like this, without any minefields." He also showed UAV video, showing several Russian army teams crossing the border without resistance. He also said that Uzbek officials claimed that the cost of building defense fortifications was huge, but these fortifications did not exist.
By May 12, the Russian Ministry of Defense had confirmed that the Russian army had controlled 11 towns along the Ukrainian military border, controlling about 200 square kilometers of land within 48 hours. In the afternoon of the same day, the town of Wolfchangsk, only 50 kilometers away from the urban area of Kharkov, became the focus of the battle. Tymoshenko, the police chief of Kharkov, said that the Russian army approached from three directions in the suburb of the town. Serski, the commander in chief of the Ukrainian army, posted on the social platform that the Ukrainian army was in a disadvantageous situation and that the Russian army had achieved "partial success" in some areas.
According to the reference news agency Lu Tou, the Ukrainian commander in charge of the front line operations in Kharkov has been replaced, and the post of the first deputy director of the Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Agency has also been removed.
On the 13th, the two sides continued to engage in fierce fighting in the Kharkov region. In a video speech on the evening of the 13th, Zelensky said that the Ukrainian army has strengthened its military strength in Kharkov and is launching a counterattack. It is reported that more than 4000 people have been evacuated from the settlements in Kharkov State.
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"Originally, there was a front in Kharkov State, that is, an attack direction from east to west from Lugansk. But this time, a new front was opened up, that is, the offensive launched from Russia to the south on the border between Russia and Kharkov State of Ukraine from the Russian mainland." Chen Hu, the former chief editor of the Xinhua News Agency's World Military magazine, said.
The Russian Ukrainian front stretches for thousands of kilometers, and the war in Kharkov State is at the northernmost end of the whole front. Why open a new front from the north?
"From a tactical point of view, the biggest advantage is that the rear is Russia itself. Both the central line and the southern line have gone through a long tug of war, and the roads and infrastructure leading to the front are almost destroyed. If a new offensive is to be launched, the logistics burden is too heavy. And launching an attack here, the logistics support is the most convenient and beneficial."
Chen Hu told reporters that opening up a new front and lengthening the whole front has added a new burden to Ukraine, which is short of troops and equipment. Moreover, the Russian army wedged in from the north, which could form a pincer offensive with the direction of Lugansk.
Russian Ukrainian conflict picture source: reference message
What does Russia want to do? There are three mainstream views
After Putin took office as President, he transferred the first deputy prime minister, Belovsov, who is good at planning economy, to the post of defense minister. The outside world is speculating that the Russian army will make great moves on the battlefield. According to Chen Hu, there are three mainstream views on the purpose of the offensive.
The first view is that Russia is establishing a border buffer zone. Reuters said that Putin said in March that he would establish a "buffer zone" at the border to prevent Ukraine from harassing Russia's western border.
"Most of Ukraine's attacks on Obergorod state were launched from Kharkov state. If the front can be pushed forward about 10 kilometers, it will be difficult for mortars and gun barrels below 122 mm caliber to hit villages and towns on the Russian border." Chen Hu analyzed that "if the front is pushed forward more than 20 kilometers, 155 mm large caliber howitzers will not be able to reach."
The second view is to force the Ukrainian army to adjust its deployment and create conditions for launching decisive offensives in other directions.
The decisive offensive of the Russian army may be Odessa direction of the south line 。 Once successful, all the coastal cities of Ukraine will fall and become a landlocked country.
Some analysts also believe that Russia will "Central flowering" , continue to push forward the front after winning Luton, Form a confrontation across the Dnieper River This is conducive to stabilizing the situation. The Russian Ministry of Defense told RIA Novosti on the 11th that the Russian marines in the "Dnieper" cluster were rehearsing the action of crossing the Dnieper River in the southern Kherson, and the Russian army was also setting up outposts along the coast to prevent Ukrainian attacks.
In addition, the two sides are still fighting for Donetsk and other places, and the decisive offensive may also be Donbas Region 。 On May 5, the Russian Ministry of Defence announced that the Russian army had successfully controlled Ocheletaine village, northwest of the strategic town of Afjeyevka in Donetsk. Al Jazeera said satellite images confirmed the progress of the Russian army.
The truth and falsehood of Russia on the battlefield have confused Ukrainians, and their internal opinions are not unified. For example, the Deputy Director of Ukrainian Military Intelligence, Skibitsky, assessed that Russia might try to seize Sume and Kharkov in the north again. But Voroshen, spokesman of the Urumqi Eastern Theater Command, said that the Russian army attacked Kharkov to contain the Urumqi army, and its actual goal was still Urumqi East.
The third point is that the goal of the Russian army's campaign is to capture Kharkov City. Chen Hu believes that once this is successful, it will be shocking and will completely change the battlefield situation, making NATO realize that Ukraine cannot win, and at the same time forcing Ukraine to cease fighting and seek peace.
On May 14, Blinken paid his fourth visit to Kiev
Putin's big move may be to help Trump "enter the palace twice"
Chen Hu also made a larger guess about Putin's intention to brew a "big deal" on the battlefield - Russia is supporting Trump by changing the battlefield situation.
"In fact, outside the United States, it is Russia that has the greatest ability to intervene in the American election. The way of intervention is to make a breakthrough in the battlefield of Ukraine. Once it appears, Trump will launch a fierce attack on it, and Biden is likely to collapse." Chen Hu said.
According to CCTV News, on April 24 this year, Biden signed a foreign aid bill worth US $95 billion, of which more than US $60 billion was provided to Ukraine.
Zhang Siyuan, an observer for international issues, said in an interview with Xinhuanet that the United States is the largest "financier" of military assistance to Ukraine. According to Western media calculations, the Biden government has so far invested up to 170 billion dollars in the Russian Ukrainian conflict. Since the outbreak of the crisis, the United States has not sought a ceasefire to end the war, but is afraid of the end of the war. It regards the crisis as an agent war against Russia, continues to increase sanctions against Russia and military aid to Ukraine, creates "controllable turbulence", and continues to seize geopolitical interests from it. Not only does the United States occupy the European market with high prices of natural gas, but also American arms dealers harvest a large number of orders, I earned a lot.
In fact, there has emerged an interest group in the United States that can benefit from the crisis in Ukraine. These people, represented by the Biden government, whose own interests have been deeply bound to Ukraine, absolutely do not want to see Ukraine suffer heavy losses on the battlefield.
In the opinion of Chen Xi, a military writer, if just before the US general election vote at the end of November, after the Biden government has poured tens of billions of dollars into Ukraine, Russia should win a major victory against Ukraine on the battlefield, which is not only a slap on the face of the Democratic Biden government, but actually will determine the direction of the entire general election and let the Republican Party come to power.
“ The right-wing group represented by Trump of the Republican Party has always wanted to woo Russia. Trump is in power again, which is a good thing for Russia. ”Chen Xi analyzed and said, "For Putin, if he can defeat Ukraine, it is best. If he cannot defeat Ukraine, as long as Kharkov is captured before November, he can also let the Biden government suffer a very big loss before the election, leading to rapid changes in the election situation."
In Chen Xi's view, Russia's attack on Kharkov was mainly a political battle to create political influence. "Hitting Odessa in the south has the same political effect as Kharkov, but Odessa has the advantage over NATO forces, which is much more difficult to fight than Kharkov close to the Russian border." Therefore, Russia chose Kharkov as a lever to intervene in the US election and pry the world pattern. "
At present, the senior leaders of Ukraine and the United States seem very nervous in the face of the Russian military front. "The United States has just announced to provide $400 million in emergency military assistance, although the amount is not large, but from a procedural point of view, the president is allowed to allocate from the US military reserves, which shows that the United States' judgment of the situation in Ukraine is' extremely urgent '." Chen Hu believes that the upcoming U.S. election, for the Democratic government still on stage, Ukraine should not be surprised, We must make every effort to ensure the stability of the situation.
Russia and Ukraine fought fiercely in Kharkov. The picture shows the action of Russian army
Kharkov, a place of war
According to CCTV News, Kharkov is an important industrial center and transportation hub in Ukraine It has the Kharkov Molozov Machinery Design Bureau and the Mareshev Machinery Factory, which started with the manufacture of steam locomotives. It is a military industrial city famous for tanks and vehicle diesel engines in the Soviet era.
According to the Chinese military website, the Mareshev factory is world-famous for producing T-80 and T-84 main battle tanks, and once became a veritable tank "production room" with an annual output of 900 tanks.
At the same time, Kharkov is Ukraine's largest railway hub , the intersection of 8 trunk lines, with 3 trunk railway stations; Same Road network hubs in Ukraine and Russia There are roads to Moscow, Kiev, Western Ukraine, Zaporozhe, Crimea, Rostov on the Don River and the Caucasus. There are also large airports.
When the Soviet Union was founded, Kharkov was the capital of Ukraine until 1934 when it gave way to Kiev. In modern times, Kharkov has always been the second largest city in Ukraine and the capital of Kharkov State, with its status and scale second only to Kiev. In particular, in the tragic Soviet German war 80 years ago, the two sides fought four large-scale tug of war for the city.
It can be seen that Kharkov, as a place of war, is of great importance in the Russian Ukrainian battlefield.
