A Ukrainian government source said today, Saturday, that Russia's bombing targeted a nuclear facility in Kharkiv (northeast) and damaged its infrastructure and buildings, and at a time when Moscow launched missiles from inside Belarus, the war is entering its fifth month without a solution in sight.
Ole Senegubov, the governor of the city of Kharkiv, which is the second Ukrainian city, said that a woman was killed and 5 citizens were injured during the past 24 hours, in the Russian bombing of Kharkiv and a number of towns and villages in its vicinity.
The governor of Kharkiv added that the armed forces repelled a Russian attempt to advance towards the village of Udi, near the border with Russia, and that it inflicted heavy losses on the attackers, forcing them to withdraw.
In Kharkiv, which has been resisting pressure from Russian forces since the start of the offensive, rockets fall again daily on the city center.
provocation and warning
For its part, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine considered that the strikes targeting the country from Belarus were a widespread Russian provocation.
The Intelligence Directorate accused the Kremlin of seeking to drag Belarus into direct participation in the war, by carrying out this attack, which it described as intense and the first of its kind.
She explained that the planes took off from Russia, specifically from Chaikovka Airport in the Kaluga region, before entering Belarusian airspace and firing missiles from 50 or 60 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, before returning to their bases in Russia.
The strikes came hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin met his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in St Petersburg.
Belarusian forces are again conducting military exercises near the border with the Kyiv region, which has increased tension and put the Ukrainian authorities on high alert.
critical steps
In other field developments, the Chechen president said that the Russian forces control the airport of the strategic city of Severodonetsk in the eastern Donbass region, and the industrial zone in the city in full.
On the other hand, the Ukrainian mayor of Severodonetsk said that the Russian army occupies the entire city and that it has become possible to leave it only to the areas controlled by Russia, while the head of the city's military administration announced the departure of the Ukrainian army, while civilians remained in the shelters of the Azot plant.
Yesterday, the Ukrainian army received orders to withdraw from Severodonetsk, a decisive step for Moscow, which wants to occupy the entire Donbass industrial region, parts of which have been controlled by pro-Moscow separatists since 2014, and Russia wants to control completely.
On the other hand, Al-Jazeera correspondent reported that the battles and exchanges of shelling between the Ukrainian and Russian forces continued in the vicinity of the city of Lyschansk, and on the road between it and Bakhmut.
For his part, the governor of Lugansk province said that the Ukrainian forces repelled the continuous Russian attack on Lyschansk from the southern axis.
Victims and support
This comes at a time when the Russian Defense Ministry announced that its forces had killed more than 1,100 Ukrainian soldiers, including foreign mercenaries.
The ministry spokesman said that in the Mykolaiv region alone, about 300 Ukrainian troops and mercenaries were eliminated.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the two Americans who were captured by Russia while fighting in Ukraine against Moscow's invasion of the country as heroes.
In an interview with NBC News, Zelensky confirmed that he would fight for their release.
The families of Alexander Druk and Andy Heine announced that their two sons were missing earlier this month, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday.
The Kyiv government said in March that about 20,000 people from around the world had responded to the call and joined the Ukraine International Corps to fight against Russian forces.
A spokesman for the Russian president said earlier this week that Druk and Heine face the death penalty, and he believes that the Geneva Conventions may not apply to them as Moscow does not consider them as part of the Ukrainian national army.
Ukrainian fighters confront Russian forces in the east of the country (Reuters)
Claims and stalemate
Ukraine does not stop demanding more heavy weapons from its allies to confront the Russian strike force, especially in the Donbass industrial zone.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Valery Zaluzhny, said on his Facebook page that he stressed, in a telephone conversation with his American counterpart, General Mark Milley, "the need to achieve parity in firepower with the enemy," stressing that this "will allow us to stabilize the situation in the Lugansk region, which is under the greatest threat."
"It no longer makes sense to stay in constantly bombed locations for months," said Sergei Gaidai, governor of the Lugansk region, where Severodonetsk is located, while the city was "almost completely destroyed" by the constant bombing.
"The entire basic infrastructure was destroyed, 99% of the city was damaged and 80% of the houses had to be demolished," he added.
Experts believe that these intense bombings led to the "subjugation" of Ukrainian soldiers, but without necessarily fundamentally changing the situation on the ground.