Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov Speaks for the First Time About an Attack on Kharkiv
For the first time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has named a Ukrainian city as a possible future target. He said this during a radio interview on Friday. On the Ukrainian side, they expect “a difficult period,” said the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is the first senior Kremlin official to identify a city as a possible Russian operational target. He did this on Friday in a radio interview with several influential Russian propagandists. Lavrov referred to President Vladimir Putin’s plan to establish a demilitarized “sanitary zone” in Ukraine to defend Russian settlements in Ukraine.
The city of Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine, would play an essential role in this. “We must withdraw the line from which they (Ukraine, ed.) can hit us. If I understand correctly, Kharkiv plays an important role here,” Lavrov paraphrased the president.
Lavrov also assured that if that new front line were to eventually be created, the ‘special military operation’ must be continued.
“Difficult period expected”
Ukraine has been expecting a new offensive for some time, but there was little clarity. Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukrainian military intelligence, also referred to it this week. “Let’s not go into too much detail, but a difficult period is coming, in mid-May and early June,” he said in an interview with the Ukrainian service of the British broadcaster BBC, about the situation on the frontline. The Russian army is “conducting a complex operation.”
“We think that a difficult situation awaits us shortly. But we must understand that this will not be catastrophic,” Budanov said. “Armageddon will not occur, contrary to what many are saying at the moment,” he emphasized.
The Ukrainian army faces a shortage of recruits and ammunition due to delays in delivering Western – mainly American – aid. Russian troops, on the other hand, are more numerous and better armed. They advance in the east and regularly claim to have conquered small villages in the Donets basin. Currently, their target is the city of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk Oblast. Chasiv Yar is located about 25 km as the crow flies from Kramatorsk, an important logistics hub for the Ukrainian military.
The US House of Representatives approved a new aid package last weekend after months of delays, but Western analysts expect it will take weeks before Kyiv can benefit from it.