- Ukrainian military commanders reported an intensification of Russian troop concentrations in the Kharkiv region.
- Russia is reportedly sending additional troops from other parts of Ukraine to the Kharkiv area to bolster its forces.
- Ukraine has mobilized reserve forces and moved them to the Kharkiv region to counter the Russian offensive.
Russia has launched a series of aerial attacks using cruise missiles, drones and ballistic missiles into Ukraine, the Ukrainian Air Force said on Thursday, while its army commander said he was stepping up Russian troop concentrations in the Kharkiv region, where Moscow’s forces are making major advances in its spring offensive.
Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence unit claimed that a maritime drone had destroyed two Russian KS-701 patrol boats in the Black Sea off the coast of the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula. Russian officials did not immediately comment on the claim.
The nighttime attack included eight S-300 ballistic missiles, 11 cruise missiles and 32 Shahed drones, the air force said. All the drones and seven cruise missiles were shot down, the air force said, without providing other details.
Kiev forces face coordinated Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine, military officials say
In Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, attacks wounded seven people and set the city hall building on fire, Oblast Governor Oleh Shniekhbov said. Russian airstrikes were also reported in Khmelnytskyi and Dnipropetrovsk, but no one was injured.
Ukrainian soldiers use a U.S. Stinger air defense missile launcher on the front line in Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, May 28, 2024. Military commanders said they were strengthening Russian troop concentrations in the Kharkiv region, where Moscow’s forces are making major advances in the spring offensive. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko)
Russian military commander Oleksandr Shirsky said on his Facebook page on Thursday that Russia was sending troops from other parts of Ukraine to the Kharkiv region to reinforce forces in Vovchansk and Lyptsy, the two main fighting strongholds. Shirsky said Ukraine had also moved reserve troops to the area.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the country’s air defenses shot down eight U.S.-made ATACMS missiles over the Sea of Azov, which borders Russia and Russian-controlled Ukraine.
One person was injured in a drone explosion in Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Kharkiv and comes under daily attack from Ukraine.
Long delays in U.S. military aid and inadequate military production in Western countries have delayed the delivery of vital supplies to the Ukrainian battlefield, and Russia has taken advantage of the delays to advance in the Kharkiv area.
Russian missiles and bombs also hit Ukrainian military sites and civilian areas, including power grids.
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The US Secretary of State suggested Thursday that the Biden administration may soon authorise Ukraine to use US-supplied weapons to attack targets in Russia, accusing Russia of trying to sow discord among democracies with disinformation.
Blinken, who was in Prague for a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, called Moscow’s spread of misinformation and disinformation “poison” and signed a deal with the Czech government to counter it.
A day earlier, Blinken said U.S. policy on Ukraine’s deployment of U.S. military weapons was constantly evolving and suggested the U.S. might lift an implicit ban on Ukraine using U.S. weapons to attack Russian territory.
U.S. officials insist there is no formal ban but have previously made clear they believe the use of U.S. weapons to strike targets inside Russia could escalate a response from Moscow, something Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised.
