The Russian operation close to Kharkiv is now seen as a attempt to NOT take the city itself….
But to esrtablish a perimeter to hold, to later lauch an paossible larger strike at the city more than. 20 miles from the front…..
US Sec of State takes the train to Kyiv after Israeli/Hamas talks collapse…..
Russian’s new Defense boss is a economist…..
The status of US weapons and ammo being sent to Ukraine…
Last Sunday, as Russia put pressure on Ukrainian forces across a 600-mile front line, Ukraine received a shipment of anti-armor rockets, missiles and badly needed 155-millimeter artillery shells. It was the first installment from the $61 billion in military aid that President Biden approved just four days earlier.
A second batch of those weapons and ammunition arrived on Monday. And a fresh supply of Patriot interceptor missiles from Spain arrived in Poland on Tuesday. They would be at the Ukrainian front soon, a senior Spanish official said.
The push is on to move weapons to a depleted Ukrainian army that is back on its heels and desperate for aid. Over the last week, a flurry of planes, trains and trucks have arrived at NATO depots in Europe carrying ammunition and smaller weapon systems to be shipped across Ukraine’s borders.
“Now we need to move fast, and we are,” Mr. Biden said on April 24when he signed the bill approving the aid. He added, “I’m making sure the shipments start right away.”…
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It can take as little as a few days for logistics specialists at a U.S. military base in Wiesbaden, Germany, to coordinate delivery for the most urgently needed arms, officials said.
Combat vehicles, boats, sophisticated cannons, missile launchers and air defense systems are much more difficult and take longer to transfer — in part because their size often requires them to be shipped by sea and heavily guarded trains.
One American official said most of the larger weapons that were financed by the new U.S. aid, and even some of the ammunition, would be shipped from the United States and most likely not be delivered until well into the summer — or even later. The U.S. official also spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Complicating matters, not all the weapons that have been promised are immediately available….
More in a May 3rd , 2024 NY Times piece….
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The Ukrainian military said it had stopped Russian forces from moving further near the village of Lukyantsi to the north in the Kharkiv region where they had a “partial success”.
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Four people were killed by strikes in the eastern Lugansk region of Ukraine, which is occupied by Moscow and a Russian border region, local officials said on Monday.
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The Ukrainian commander responsible for the northeastern Kharkiv frontline was replaced during the Russian offensive, a military command said on Monday. No reason was given.
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Russian forces were attacking the border of Ukraine’s northern Kharkiv region in small groups in an attempt to stretch the front line, the region’s governor said.
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Acting Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that if the west wants to fight for Ukraine on the battlefield, Russia is prepared for it. He added that Ukraine’s upcoming peace summit represents an ultimatum to Moscow….
May 13, 2024 – ISW Press
Russian forces continued to make tactically significant advances north and northeast of Kharkiv City on May 13 and currently appear to be prioritizing the rapid establishment of a “buffer zone” along the international border over setting conditions for deeper penetrations into northern Kharkiv Oblast. Russian forces’ relatively rapid rate of advances in Vovchansk and their reported destruction of several bridges across key waterways within the settlement suggest that Russian forces are prioritizing the creation of a “buffer zone” over a deeper penetration, as ISW previously assessed they would.