The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken arrived in kyiv on Tuesday for a surprise visit.
Russia is leading a major offensive in northeastern Ukraine.
“Help is on the way,” Blinken assured Zelensky in the face of this new offensive.
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More than two years of war in Ukraine
HELP
“Help is on the way,” Blinken assures Zelensky in the face of the new Russian offensive.
AMERICAN PROMISE
“Help is on the way,” assures Antony Blinken to Volodymyr Zelensky in the face of the new Russian offensive. The head of American diplomacy arrived in kyiv on Tuesday for a surprise visit.
“Help is on the way and it will make a real difference on the battlefield,” promised Mr. Blinken at the start of his meeting with Mr. Zelensky, who for his part insisted on the need for more means of defense air force, demanding “two batteries for the Kharkiv region”, the same one targeted by
a Russian ground assault since May 10 and which has suffered intense bombardment in recent months.
WHAT STRATEGY FOR THE RUSSIANS?
The Russian offensive around Kharkiv (north-east), which began a few days ago, probably does not aim to take Ukraine’s second city but to pose a strategic dilemma for kyiv, as the arrival of good weather favors major maneuvers on the ground.
Around thirty villages in northeastern Ukraine were under fire on Monday from Russia, which occupied tens of km² of territory in a few days in the north of the country. But according to Western analysts contacted by our colleagues at AFP, Russia does not have the immediate objective of conquering the industrial metropolis.
In this area, “the Russian force is of insufficient volume to take a city the size of Kharkiv”, assures Mick Ryan, retired Australian general, on X (ex-Twitter).
“On the other hand, it may pose an additional risk of artillery strikes,” he adds, possibly describing “one of the most difficult moments for Ukraine in this war.”
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
A senior Russian Defense Ministry official in charge of human resources has been arrested for “criminal activities”, the official TASS news agency reported on Tuesday, the second such arrest in less than a month.
It also comes shortly after the surprise dismissal of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, in office since 2012.
General Yuri Kouznetsov, head of human resources at the Ministry of Defense, “was arrested” because he is “suspected of criminal activities”, said the TASS agency, citing a source within the police.
A search was carried out in his office and at his home as part of the investigation carried out by the military department of the Russian Investigative Committee, responsible for the main investigations in the country, according to the same source.
PUTIN IN CHINA
Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit China this week, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced Tuesday, making his second visit to the Asian country in just over six months.
“At the invitation of President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a state visit to China from May 16 to 17,” i.e. Thursday and Friday, announced ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying.
TRAIN
“Unauthorized persons” derailed a freight train near Volgograd, in southwestern Russia, Russian news agencies announced on Tuesday. A “car derailment occurred at Kotlouban station (…) in the Volgograd region after the intervention of unauthorized persons,” reported the Tass and Ria Novosti agencies as well as the Izvestia newspaper.
According to Ria Novosti, which cites Russian Railways, rail traffic has been restored on one of the two tracks. The fire in a fuel tank and a wagon was extinguished, the headquarters of the Ministry of Emergency Situations told Ria Novosti.
The city of Kotluban is located about 300 km from the border with Ukraine, and the Volgograd region is sometimes the target of drone attacks launched by the Ukrainian army. kyiv did not claim responsibility for the derailment, but a Ukrainian official at the town hall of Mariupol, a city conquered by Russia in spring 2022, called it “good news” and provided details.
BLINKEN
The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken arrived Tuesday morning in kyiv for a surprise visit intended to reassure the Ukrainians of the continued support of the United States, and to promise a flow of arms at a time when Russia is leading an offensive in the region of Kharkiv (north-east).
Mr. Blinken, whose fourth visit to kyiv since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, arrived by night train from Poland and is due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to a journalist from the AFP accompanying him.
GOOD MORNING
Welcome to this live. Find here the latest information and powerful images on the war in Ukraine.
The Russian advance continues. On Monday, May 13, fighting continued in the Kharkiv region, in northeastern Ukraine, where the Russian army launched an offensive and seized tens of square kilometers, with kyiv claiming to hold and have reinforced the area. Russian forces crossed the border on Friday and are attacking in the directions of Lyptsi and Vovchansk, two localities located respectively around twenty and around fifty kilometers northeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city.
This operation, which pushes kyiv to mobilize reinforcements, has raised fears of a Russian breakthrough in the face of a Ukrainian army already lacking resources. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in his evening speech, nevertheless assured that kyiv was carrying out “counter-attacks” and that the sector was strengthened. “We destroy the infantry and equipment of the occupier”, he assured. According to the Ukrainian head of state, kyiv also noted “hostile activities”, to know “sabotage groups” and “strikes”, against the other border regions of Sumy and Cherniguiv, in northern Ukraine.
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In an interview with AFP, the head of Ukrainian national security, Oleksandr Lytvynenko, told him that “more than 30,000” Russian soldiers attacked the Kharkiv region. However, he considered that, for the moment, no “threat” weighed on the large city of Kharkiv, located around thirty kilometers from the combat zone and which had nearly a million and a half inhabitants before the Russian invasion.