“The sirens sounded all day in Kharkiv”reports the Guardian. Faced with the success of the lightning operation of the Ukrainian army in the northeast of the country, Russia responded on Monday by bombarding the region, the Kremlin assuring that its offensive would continue “until the goals are achieved”despite its decline.
The Ukrainian general staff counted about forty Russian strikes during the day “on Ukrainian military and civilian installations” and reported damage in multiple “critical infrastructure of peaceful Ukrainian cities”dont Kharkiv, Zaporijjia, Sloviansk et Kramatorsk. “Russia is accused of targeting civilian infrastructure in revenge for its setbacks on the battlefield”note the BBC.
In Kharkiv, at least one person died in the bombardments which also caused power and water cuts. Since Sunday, five Ukrainian regions have been plunged into darkness following strikes, reports the independent Russian site Medusa.
The situation in Kharkiv – “which was still surrounded by the Russian army a week ago” -, “has become in some ways more precarious” notice the Guardian. By hitting areas inhabited by civilians, Moscow seems to want “inflict psychological pressure on the population”estimates the British daily.
According to the newspaper, Russia “seems to use missiles more and more frequently”. After having been “pushed back almost to the border, the Russians can no longer use artillery shells – cheaper – to shell the Ukrainian positions and frighten the population of the city”.
“Cautious optimism”
For its part, Ukraine announced new military successes on Monday, saying it had reached the Russian border and retaken the equivalent of seven times the area of kyiv in a month from the Russian army. In Washington, the Biden administration was showing a “cautious optimism”notice the Washington Post. Pentagon officials told the US daily that “the collapse of the Russian military in eastern Ukraine was symptomatic of its longstanding difficulties in organizing, commanding, equipping and sustaining its forces”.
American and Western officials, however, believe “that the war will remain a difficult fight for the Ukrainians, which could last for a long time. Negotiations to end the war are still a long way off”according to them, underlines the Washington Post. “Russia still occupies large swathes of territory in eastern and southern Ukraine, including cities like Mariupol and Kherson, Putin’s coveted ‘land bridge’ to Crimea – which Russia illegally annexed in 2014 – and the majority of the territory of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions”.