KHARKIV (Dispatches) – Fierce fighting is raging in two eastern Ukrainian regions, local authorities have said, as Russia’s operation in Ukraine presses deep into the country’s east.
Kharkiv’s regional governor Oleg Sinegubov said on Saturday that Ukrainians soldiers retook three villages near the Russian border after “fierce battles”.
Further south, the governor of the neighboring Luhansk region, Sergiy Gaiday, said in a video on Telegram that fighting also raged there.
“There is round-the-clock shelling,” Gaiday said.
He called on people to “evacuate if you have the chance”, saying volunteers are helping people leave the area.
Ukrainian forces were pulling back and re-positioning in new defensive lines to preserve units, Gaiday added.
Intensifying battles come as Russia has ramped up its operation in the east of the country with a Russian general saying on Friday that Moscow wanted full control of Donbas and also southern Ukraine, suggesting wider Russian aims than previously acknowledged.
Russia will forge a land corridor between Crimea which joined Russia in a 2014 referendum and Donbas, deputy commander of Russia’s central military district Major General Rustam Minnekaev said.
Russia’s defense ministry said it had struck 58 military targets in Ukraine overnight, including sites where troops, fuel depots and military equipment were concentrated.
The ministry said it had also struck three targets using high-precision missiles in Ukraine, including an S-300 air defense system and a large concentration of Ukrainian troops with their equipment.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden unveiled a new package of $800 million in military aid for Ukraine. The new military package will bring the total amount the Biden administration has spent arming the former Soviet republic to $4 billion.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Ukrainian soldiers have travelled to Britain to learn how to use UK-supplied armored vehicles in the war.
“A couple of dozen” troops arrived last week to train on the 120 Mastiff, Wolfhound and Husky armored vehicles being supplied to Kiev, an official confirmed.
The UK has taken a leading role in arming and training Ukraine’s forces, especially for anti-tank missiles. Johnson earlier this month became the first G7 leader to visit Kiev since Russia launched its offensive on February 24.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters that the U.S. House of Representatives would consider the additional aid for Ukraine as soon as next week.
During his meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Washington Thursday, Biden announced plans to ban Russian-affiliated ships from docking at U.S. ports.
A senior Biden administration official was quoted as saying that the move aims to further isolate Russia.
Moscow soon announced its new countermeasures, sanctioning more than two dozen U.S. citizens, including Vice President Kamala Harris, by denying them entry to the country.
The Russian Ministry of Defense says the U.S. is planning provocations to accuse Russian forces of using WMDs in Ukraine.
The MoD has information that “Russia will be blamed for utilizing chemical, biological or tactical nuclear weapons, in line with at least three scenarios already developed as a response to Moscow’s success in conducting its special military operation,” said Igor Kirillov, the chief of the Russian MoD’s radiation, chemical, and biological protection forces, Sputnik reported.
The western provocation is likely to target chemical and biological facilities in Kharkiv and Kiev, and possibly the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
The high probability of the US planning to stage a provocation using chemical weapons in Ukraine is confirmed by the supply of poisonous antidotes to Ukraine, said Igor Kirillov, as he pointed out that “in 2022 alone, at the request of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, more than 220,000 ampoules with atropine were delivered from the United States.”