A serviceman walks down a street, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, near the frontline town of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk region, Ukraine. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Russia said on Wednesday its forces had captured a district in the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar near Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow has been pressing for months.

The town, in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, has strategic importance and its capture could allow Russia to mount further offensives across the region.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said in a daily briefing that its troops had “liberated the ‘Novy’ district of Chasiv Yar”, a neighbourhood on the eastern edge of the town.

Russia’s capture of the area was also reported by Ukraine’s DeepState Telegram channel, which has links to Kyiv’s Army.

It said the district had been flattened by Russian bombardments, and that withdrawing was “a logical, albeit difficult decision.”

It was unclear if Russia was claiming that its forces had crossed a canal that runs through the eastern part of the town, a natural barrier that has aided Ukraine’s defence.

Chasiv Yar lies around 10 km west of Bakhmut, which Russian forces captured last year after months of artillery strikes and urban combat destroyed the city.

Foreign journalists report from an observation point while smoke rises after a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, May 17, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Russian forces were pressing ahead on Friday with their offensive in north-east Ukraine as President Vladimir Putin said there were no current plans to occupy Kharkiv city, the regional capital.

On a trip to China, Mr. Putin said the assault was direct retaliation for Ukrainian shelling of Russia’s border regions and that Moscow was trying to create a “security zone”.

“This is their fault because they have shelled and continue to shell residential neighbourhoods in border areas,” Mr. Putin told reporters, adding there was no intention at this stage to take Kharkiv with its population of over one million about 40 km from the front lines.

Moscow launched the surprise offensive into Ukraine’s north east on May 10, sending thousands of troops across the border and unleashing artillery fire on several settlements, including the almost deserted town of Vovchansk.

Resisting onslaught

Oleg Synegubov, Governor of the Kharkiv region, said Russian forces were trying to surround Vovchansk, which had a pre-war population of around 18,000, and that Ukraine’s forces were “resisting” the Russian onslaught. “The enemy has actually started to destroy the city. It is not just dangerous to be there, but impossible,” Mr. Synegubov said in a briefing.

But he warned Russia was also gaining ground near Lukyantsi, a village much further west that Kyiv pulled back from earlier this week amid heavy fire.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken walks on Independence Square in Kyiv, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. US military aid for Ukraine is “now on its way” and will “make a real difference,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a visit to Kyiv on May 14, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that American military aid on its way to Ukraine would make a “real difference” on the battlefield, as the top diplomat made an unannounced visit to Kyiv to reassure an ally facing a fierce new Russian offensive.

In increasingly intense attacks along the northeastern border in recent days, Moscow’s troops have captured around 100-125 sq. km in the Kharkiv region.

The Kremlin’s forces have also been making a concerted push in the east, seeking to drive deeper into the partly occupied Donetsk region.

Analysts have called this moment one of the most dangerous for Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 — and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked on Tuesday for more air defense systems.

“We know this is a challenging time,” Mr. Blinken said adding that U.S. military aid is “going to make a real difference against the Russian aggression.”

A demonstrator holds a placard calling on the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to supply Ukraine with Taurus air-to-surface cruise missiles, during a rally in support of Ukraine to mark the second year of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Berlin on February 24, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

A German military officer used an unsecured phone line at a Singapore hotel to join a conference call that was hacked by Russians and leaked to the public, Germany’s Defense Minister said on March 5.

The fallout from the leaked audio tape, which features four high-ranking German air force officers discussing hypothetically how Taurus long-range cruise missiles could be used by Kyiv against invading Russian forces, has embarrassed the German government and further increased tensions between the two countries.

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“Not all participants adhered to the secure dialing procedure as intended,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said as he briefed reporters in Berlin on the initial results of an ongoing investigation.

The Minister said that the officer in question, whose name he did not give, had participated in the Singapore Air Show, which was attended by high-ranking military officers from across Europe, and then dialled into the WebEx call using either his mobile phone or the hotel’s Wi-Fi but not a secured line as is considered mandatory for such calls.

“For the Russian secret services, it was a real find. … Targeted hacking took place in the hotels used across the board,” Mr. Pistorius said. “It must therefore be assumed that the access to this (phone) conference was a chance hit as part of a broad, scattered approach.”

Mr. Pistorius said the investigation was ongoing, overall security had been increased and preliminary disciplinary proceedings were being considered, but that severe personal consequences were unlikely.

“I will not sacrifice any of my best officers to Putin’s games, to put it very clearly,” he said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The 38-minute audio leak was posted by Margarita Simonyan, chief editor of the Russian state-funded television channel RT, on social media on Friday, the same day that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was laid to rest after his still-unexplained death two weeks ago in an Arctic penal colony. The recording also surfaced just weeks before Russia’s presidential election.

While German authorities have not questioned the authenticity of the recording, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said last week that delivering those weapons to Ukraine was not an option — and that he does not want Germany to be drawn into the war directly.

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However, Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Monday threatened Germany with “dire consequences” in connection with the leak. It did not elaborate.

Relations between the two countries have steadily eroded since Russia invaded Ukraine two years ago.

In the leaked audio, four officers, including the head of Germany’s air force, Ingo Gerhartz, can be heard discussing deployment scenarios for Taurus missiles in Ukraine before a meeting with Mr. Pistorius.

The officers said that early delivery and rapid deployment of Taurus missiles would only be possible with the participation of German soldiers. The officers said training Ukrainian soldiers to deploy the Taurus on their own would be possible, but it would take months.

The recording also shows the German government has not given its OK for the delivery of the cruise missiles sought by Ukraine.

Mr. Pistorius said Tuesday that while the damage caused by the leak was severe, “the mistake is still being worked through and we must now turn our attention back to more important tasks,” such as how Germany and its allies can continue to help Ukraine fight Russia.

There had been a monthslong debate in Germany about whether to supply the Taurus missiles to Ukraine as Kyiv faces battlefield setbacks until Mr. Scholz said last week Germany wouldn’t deliver the missiles. With military aid from the United States held up in Congress, Germany is now the second-biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine after the U.S., and it is further stepping up its support this year.

Mr. Pistorius pointed out that while the damage done by the actual content of the leaked audio was “manageable,” Russia’s real success was that with the leak it set the agenda for what is being discussed in Germany, and “that’s exactly what Putin wants to achieve.”