The battle for Kharkiv appeared to have been won by the Ukrainian army since it forced Russian troops back to the other side of the border in mid-May. But on Monday, several international media outlets reported that Russia had resumed extensive shelling of the northern part of the city, and CNN described how a large number of tanks and other weapons are now gathering on the Russian side of the border.
According to it Ukrainian General Staff It is also the anti-missile system of the type C-300 SAM, which is to protect the Russian troops against, among other things, cruise missiles and various types of air strikes.
In the city of Sevierodonetsk battles are going on and Russian troops continue to try to encircle the Ukrainian forces besieged in an industrial area. The situation is similar to the one that took place in Mariupol two months ago. Russian media report that the Ukrainian soldiers have started hanging white flags to show that they are giving up, but the articles are not supported by any pictures. Ukrainian media, for their part, say that the fighting for the city is in full swing and that Russian troops have shelled a large number of communities around the city with heavy artillery and aircraft.
According to British intelligence sources, Russia now controls 90 percent of the Luhansk region where Sievjerodonetsk is located. The region shares a long border with Russia.
During Monday came also new evidence that Russia uses banned weapons in its warfare against Ukraine. Previously, the human rights organization Amnesty International has shown that, among other things, cluster bombs have been used systematically against civilian targets. Now shows New York Timeswhich analyzed over a thousand images, the same thing – Russia regularly violates the laws of war with weapons that “kill, mutilate and destroy without distinction”.
On Monday, the Ukrainian authorities published new figures on the number of children affected by Russia’s attacks. According to the country’s public prosecutor 323 children have been killed and 586 injured. In addition, more than 2,000 schools were hit by bombs or artillery shelling, of which 209 were destroyed.