Major Battleground Moves into Kharkiv as Ukraine Faces a New Russian Offensive

Russian forces launch an offensive in Kharkiv, seizing villages near the border as a possible prelude to a bigger push towards Ukraine's second city or westwards, setting the stage for pivotal battles.

Russian troops have launched a new offensive, coming from the North and going inside the territory of Ukraine, capturing several villages in the Kharkiv region and Vovchansk. The fact that the Russians have crept into this region, it can be assumed that the objective is the creation of a buffer zone to prevent the Belgorod region from further Ukrainian attacks and a repositioning towards Kharkiv or further attack towards Sumy.

The Russian movement of just several miles into the Ukrainian territory seems small, and one can think that this is merely the prelude to the long-awaited summer offensive of these Russian forces to try and break Ukraine's defense. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the Kharkiv situation as very hard but said that it is "on the whole" under control for now.

As the scale of the battles in the Kharkiv region is increasing, Ukraine is challenged with the redeployment of forces from other crucial areas of Donbas to the north. At the same time, the situation on the front lines in Donetsk would become more favorable for Russia as it is struggling to break through the Ukrainian defenses to take control of the strategically important hilltop town of Chasiv Yar.

Others conclude that the ultimate goal of Moscow might be a siege of or worse, a capture of Kharkiv itself which would be a devastating blow for Ukraine's industrial sector. Nonetheless, assessment by many pollsters indicates that Russia does not have sufficient troop numbers to cover the comprehensive urban assault after its costly victory in places such as Avdiivka.

Ukraine just lowered the mobilization age and geared up for the expected large-scale battles in the next few months upon the arrival of modern American weapons. It is believed that Russia has the potential to use large amounts of personnel, equipment, and ammunition very effectively but it has not proven to be the case militarily so far.

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With the fighting becoming more intense, Russian President Vladimir Putin has intimated that there may be new peace talks and he said, "We are open to a dialogue on Ukraine and a discussion about it". But both sides are heavily invested in new attacks, so a negotiated agreement seems less likely for now.