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Ukrainian troops have reached the Russian border after successfully pushing Putin‘s forces away from the country’s second-city of Kharkiv, as Putin’s invasion continues to falter.
Soldiers carrying a border marker painted in the colours of the Ukrainian flag and bearing the country’s trident emblem filmed themselves planting the post somewhere along the frontier, to the north of Kharkiv.
‘Today the 15th May, Kharkiv’s territorial defence forces of Ukraine – 227th battalion, 127th brigade – went to the border that marks the split between the Russian Federation – the occupiers – and Ukraine. We are here’ one of the soldiers said in footage posted online today by regional governor Oleh Synyehubov.
It is unclear exactly where the footage was filmed though it was likely taken near Ternova – a town roughly two miles from the Russian border which Ukrainian troops entered on Saturday, according to military top brass.
Ukraine has now all-but pushed Russian troops away from Kharkiv, alleviating a bombardment of the city which began on the first day of the war and has seen thousands of civilians killed or wounded.
It came as NATO chief Jens Stoltenburg predicted that Ukraine can ‘win’ the war having turned back offensives on Kyiv, Kharkiv and stalled the main advance in Donbas.
Ukrainian troops have posed with a border marker on the frontier with Russia having counter-attacked to the north of Kharkiv and pushed Putin’s army out of the country, the regional governor said today
It is thought the footage was filmed Sunday to the north of the town of Ternova, around two miles from the Russian border, which Ukrainian troops had captured the day before
Video of the Ukrainian troops carrying the marker post to the border confirms that Russia has all-but abandoned efforts to take Kharkiv, having already failed to seize the capital Kyiv
The exact location of the footage is unclear, but it was likely taken here – just north of the town of Ternova which the Ukrainian military said it had captured two days ago
Russia ‘moves nuclear-capable Iskander missiles to Finnish border’
Russia appears to have started moving nuclear-capable missiles to Finland’s border just a day after the country announced it will bid to join NATO.
Video posted on Russian social media today shows trucks carrying Iskander ballistic missiles – which can be tipped with nuclear warheads – moving through the country, reportedly on a highway to Vyborg, on the Finnish border.
‘As soon as the president of Finland said they were joining NATO, a whole division of Iskanders, seven of them… is moving towards Vyborg,’ the narrator says.
It comes a day after Finland and Sweden announced formal plans to apply for membership of NATO. Russia’s foreign ministry warned today the move is a ‘grave mistake’ and will have ‘far-reaching consequences’.
Vyborg is located just 30 miles from Finland and 135 miles from Helsinki, putting it well within missile range.
Stoltenburg, speaking Sunday during a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Berlin as Finland and Sweden announced formal plans to join the alliance, said the invasion is ‘not going as Moscow had planned’.
‘They failed to take Kyiv. They are pulling back from around Kharkiv. Their major offensive in Donbas has stalled. Russia is not achieving its strategic objectives. Ukraine can win this war,’ he said, without spelling out what exactly ‘victory’ would mean.
In the early days of the war, Ukraine viewed victory as the survival of the state and withdrawal of Russian forces to pre-invasion territories plus the payment of reparations, foreign minister Dymtro Kuleba said last week.
But as the war has evolved, Kuleba says the goal is now to push Russia out of all Ukrainian territory – including occupied Crimea and rebel-held areas of Donbas.
The UK has voiced support for this goal, with the US has said it wants to see Russia ‘weakened’ to the point where it cannot invade another of its neighbouring states.
Moscow has warned that such goals carry the risk of a direct confrontation between NATO and Russian troops which could escalate into a nuclear war.
Key to the outcome of the war will be the battle for the eastern Donbas region, with President Volodymyr Zelensky saying his commanders are braced for a renewed Russian attack in the area today.
‘We are preparing for new attempts by Russia to attack in Donbas, to somehow intensify its movement in the south of Ukraine,’ President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address.
‘The occupiers still do not want to admit that they are in a dead-end and their so-called ‘special operation’ has already gone bankrupt,’ he added.
Presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich told local television that Russian troops were being transferred in the direction of Donbas after withdrawing from Kharkiv following the Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Kyiv’s troops have made so much progress in the northern region that they have almost reached the border with Russia, according to interior ministry adviser Vadim Denisenko.
The Ukrainian army said Monday that some Russian forces remained to try and block the advance, and air sirens sounded in Kharkiv city in the early hours.
Russia’s advance has now stalled or reversed across the entirety of Ukraine, except for around Severodonetsk and Popansa, where Russia is making small gains in the hopes of surrounding Kyiv’s men
Ukrainian solders examine the wreck of a Russian tank in an image taken on an unknown date at an unknown location, but released by the country’s defence ministry on Monday
A man examines the ruins of his house in the village of Mala Rogan, to the east of Kharkiv, after Ukrainian troops recaptured the area from Russian forces in the past few days
Ukrainian troops move past the ruins of a destroyed Russian vehicle along with discarded artillery shells in a village to the north of Kharkiv which has now been recaptured by Kyiv’s men
A car marked with the ‘Z’ invasion symbol and riddled with bullet holes is seen in the Ukrainian village of Ruska Lozova, in the Kharkiv region, after it was re-taken by Kyiv’s men in recent days
A local resident looks at a destroyed Russian tank next to a residential house in the village of Mala Rogan, east of Kharkiv
Arestovich said the Russian troops that had been pulled out were being sent towards Lugansk.
‘Their task is to take Severodonetsk,’ he said. ‘Well, something is not working for them.’
Severodonetsk is the easternmost city still held by Ukraine, and its fall would grant the Kremlin de facto control of Lugansk, one of two regions – along with Donetsk – that comprise Donbas.
Russia’s attempt to cross a river to encircle it has been repelled with heavy losses of equipment, according to Lugansk governor Sergiy Gaiday.
To further deter the attack, Russian-occupied railway bridges leading to Severodonetsk were blown up, the Ukrainian military said on Facebook late Sunday, posting a video of a huge explosion taken from above.
Gaiday said Monday that fighting in the region ‘continues almost around the clock’.
For its part, Russia’s defence ministry claimed it had struck four artillery munitions depots in neighbouring Donetsk.
Air strikes had also destroyed two missile-launching systems and radar, while 15 Ukrainian drones were downed around Donetsk and Lugansk, it added.
– ‘Behind schedule’ –
But British defence chiefs said Russia’s offensive in Donbas had ‘lost momentum’.
Demoralised Russian troops had failed to make substantial gains and Moscow’s battle plan was ‘significantly behind schedule’, UK Defence Intelligence said.
It added that Russia may have lost one-third of the ground combat forces it committed in February and was ‘unlikely to dramatically accelerate’ its advance in the next 30 days.
Ukrainian commanders say they expect a turning point in their favour by August, but Western powers have cautioned the conflict will turn into a war of attrition stretching into next year.
On Sunday, NATO pledged open-ended military aid for Kyiv, with Germany’s Annalena Baerbock promising it ‘for as long as Ukraine needs’.
‘Ukraine can win this war,’ NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg added.
The show of support came as Finland confirmed it would apply to join the alliance, jettisoning decades of military non-alignment.
Just hours after Finland’s announcement, Sweden’s ruling party said it was also in favour of joining, in another remarkable turnaround of political and public opinion.
‘The best thing for Sweden’s security is that we apply for membership now and that we do it with Finland,’ Social Democratic Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said.
Firefighters work at a scene of a missile strike, as Russian invasion in Ukraine continues, in Zatoka, Odesa region
Firefighters work at a scene of a missile strike, as Russian invasion in Ukraine continues, in Zatoka, Odesa region
Ukrainian servicemen take rest in a recently retaken village north of Kharkiv, east Ukraine, on Sunday
Ukrainian servicemen walk in the forest near a recently retaken village, north of Kharkiv, east Ukraine
Ukrainian servicemen squat during a patrol in a recently retaken village, north of Kharkiv
Ukrainian serviceman walks past a blown Russian APC near Kutuzivka, north of Kharkiv
Stoltenberg said the alliance would look to provide both countries with interim security guarantees while their applications are processed, including possibly by increasing troops in the region.
In Berlin, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he heard ‘almost across-the-board, very strong support’ for the bids, despite misgivings from Turkey.
Ankara has accused both Sweden and Finland of harbouring Kurdish extremists, but Stoltenberg said it was not blocking their membership and was confident of finding common ground.
Moscow has repeatedly warned both countries of consequences if they join the alliance, while insisting the Nordic nations have nothing to fear from Russia.
In apparent retaliation, it has pulled the plug on electricity supplies to Finland, with which it shares a 1,300-kilometre (800-mile) border.
On the ground in Ukraine, bitter fighting continued throughout the country.
In Lviv on Sunday, regional governor Maksym Kozytsky said four Russian missiles hit military infrastructure near the border with Poland – the first time the city has been struck since May 3.
No casualties were reported, and Ukrainian armed forces said they destroyed two cruise missiles over the region.
In the south, the mayor of the southern city of Mykolaiv warned residents that explosions had been heard early Monday.
In the southeastern city of Mariupol, about 600 Ukrainian troops remained holed up in underground tunnels and bunkers under a steelworks there, fighting a rear-guard battle.
Russia said on Monday that it had agreed to evacuate wounded Ukrainian soldiers from the bunkers below the besieged Azovstal steel works in Mariupol to a medical facility in the Russian-controlled town of Novoazovsk.
“A humanitarian corridor has been opened through which wounded Ukrainian servicemen are being taken to a medical facility in Novoazovsk,’ the Russian defence ministry said. Kyiv has yet to comment.
The Ukrainian army said ‘massive artillery and air strikes’ were being launched by the Russians there.
In his address, Zelensky said ‘very complicated and delicate negotiations to save our people’ in the vast Azovstal plant continued daily.
Families of the soldiers have appealed to China to intervene to secure the release of the dead and wounded.
The United Nations and Red Cross helped to evacuate women, children and the elderly from the plant where they were sheltering earlier this month.
Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to Mariupol’s mayor, said on Telegram that a ‘huge convoy’ of 500 to 1,000 cars had arrived in the city of Zaporizhzhia.
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