In awe of the speed and scale of recent military successes in the Kharkiv region, Ukrainian politicians are reinforcing messages that Russia can be defeated on the battlefield and urging allied countries to send more and more advanced weapons.
Mikahilo Podolyak, one of Volodymyr Zelensky’s top advisers who once led the Ukrainian delegation to peace talks with Moscow, even published a list of materials needed “to speed up the war and expel Russia from Ukraine.” Kyiv wants more multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), tanks and armored vehicles, defensive anti-aircraft systems and drones.
United States approved This week sending another package of weapons to Ukraine, including launchers Himars and medium-range missiles. However, Zelensky insisted that the Biden administration supply the country with long-range missiles, namely the so-called ATACMS.
It is a type of satellite-guided missile that can hit targets over 300 kilometers away. If it is sent to Ukraine and used at the front, then its range extends to the territory of Russia.
The American President expressed doubts about the supply of these weapons and, according to New York Times, will ask the Pentagon for an opinion on how useful long-range missiles will be in the Ukrainian counteroffensive. Experts will answer that there will be few benefits.
When in June he decided to put Himary in Kyiv, Joe Biden insisted on to write an article in this document to reassure Russia that he “does not encourage or allow Ukraine to fire outside its borders.” The Kremlin has warned several times that it will consider deploying long-range weapons as direct intervention The United States is at war, opening the way for retaliation to unpredictable contours.
The Ukrainian rulers have said they do not want the weapons to hit targets in Russia and have never claimed responsibility for any attacks in the Belgorod region, the closest to the Ukrainian border in the Kharkiv region.
Misunderstanding in Belgorod
But in this Russian region, explosions have become more frequent, and from Friday to Saturday, at least two people were killed as a result of shelling of military installations. The governor of the region ordered to check all the bomb shelters and issued a decree on the suspension of face-to-face classes. Barricades are being built in areas close to Belgorod.
Seeing that the soldiers who left Kharkov were returning, the residents of the border zone reacted with distrust and fear. There are rumors among the population that the Ukrainian army may invade this part of Russia. “Everyone is afraid that there will be confusion. There were very strong explosions yesterday,” he said. Country resident of Shebekino, a village less than 10 kilometers from the border.
The Ukrainians, who collaborated with the Russian administration during the months of occupation and fled to Belgorod, fearing reprisals. “We feel a lot of uncertainty and do not understand anything about what is happening,” said one of these people. Wall Street Journal. “The population believed when the Russians said they would not leave us,” added another.
In the regional capital, few people agree to communicate with Western or even Russian media, as evidenced by Moscow Times – but there are also those who criticize the strategy and actions of the Russian troops in Kharkov. “People lived in fear. There were no connections, they could not communicate and talk with family members. And then there was despair and poverty,” one man analyzes. “Because they did not restore normal living conditions, the residents quickly accepted the return of the Ukrainians.”
As close relations cross-border large. This was reported by a Russian woman. The keeper who lives with her daughter in Belgorod, where she is from, and that her ex-husband and father of the child is Ukrainian and lives in Kharkiv. He was called to fight for Ukraine. “I lost my temper and said very unpleasant things to her,” she admits. “Anything can happen. I want to save my daughter’s father.”
“I don’t understand the policy of our president,” says the interlocutor Country. “Entering Ukraine was only his decision. It’s incomprehensible. Everyone lived as usual, from home to work, from work to home. And suddenly … bam, bam, bam, he laments.