Zelensky has said ‘it is the world’s fault’ that Putin has advanced on the Kharkiv region as first reports have emerged of Russian troops detaining and executing civilians in a seized nearby town…..READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE
The Ukrainian president, who was visiting injured soldiers in a hospital in Kharkiv today, warned that his country couldn’t afford to lose the city and said ‘the situation is very serious’.
‘It’s the world’s fault. They gave the opportunity for Putin to occupy. But now the world can help,’ he told ABC News as he outlined Ukraine’s need for military support.
‘All we need are two Patriot systems. Russia will not be able to occupy Kharkiv if we have those,’ Zelensky added.
His comments come after Ukraine accused Russia of detaining and killing civilians in the border town of Vovchansk, where Russian forces launched a ground assault last week.
‘Russian troops are taking civilians prisoner,’ Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said in a post on Telegram.
‘According to intelligence reports, the Russian military, trying to gain a foothold in the city, did not allow local residents to evacuate: they began abducting people and driving them to basements.’
He said there were also ‘reports of the first shootings of civilians by the Russian military.’
‘One of the residents of Vovchansk tried to escape on foot, refused to follow the commands of the invaders, and was killed by the Russians.’
Regional police had opened a ‘war crimes’ investigation into the allegations, Klymenko said.
These claims could not be independently verified. There was no immediate response from Moscow to the allegations.
Russian soldiers have previously been accused of executing civilians in parts of Ukraine they captured and controlled since they invaded in February 2022.
In April 2022, the bodies of dozens of civilians, some with their hands tied up, were found in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha after a month-long occupation by Russian forces.
Ukraine has evacuated almost 9,000 people in the Kharkiv in the week since Russian forces stormed across the border in a surprise ground assault.
The country warned on Thursday that it faced a ‘very difficult’ military situation in Kharkiv, where Moscow has made its largest territorial gains in 18 months.
As Zelensky said Kyiv was sending yet more reinforcements to the area, the Ukrainian army said it had managed to partially halt Russia’s advance.
The fresh Russian offensive has further stretched Ukraine’s outgunned and outmanned forces.
Moscow has seized 107 square miles of Ukrainian territory between May 9 and 15, according to AFP calculations based on data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) – the largest territorial gain in a single operation since mid-December 2022.
Zelensky met military leaders in Kharkiv city, some 18 miles from the Russian border, today to assess Ukraine’s defensive efforts.
‘The situation in the Kharkiv region is generally under control, and our soldiers are inflicting significant losses on the occupier,’ he said in a post on Telegram.
‘However, the area remains extremely difficult. We are reinforcing our units.
Ukraine’s army said earlier it had managed to halt the advancing Russian forces in some places.
‘Our defence forces have partially stabilised the situation. The advance of the enemy in certain zones and localities has been halted,’ army spokesman Nazar Voloshin said on state TV on Thursday.
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