Day after day, Moscow is pounding northern Ukraine and gaining ground. The Russian advance is such that the Ukrainian army announced during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday that it had to withdraw to certain areas of the northern front, in the Kharkiv region.
Information to remember
⇒ The Ukrainian army retreats to “certain areas” of the northern front
⇒ Russia says it has neutralized 17 Ukrainian drones
⇒ Lifting of electricity rationing in several regions
The Ukrainian army announces it is withdrawing to “certain areas” of the northern front
The Ukrainian army announced on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday that it had had to withdraw to certain areas of the northern front, in the Kharkiv region where Russia launched a new offensive on May 10.
“In some areas, near Lukiantsi and Vovchansk, in response to enemy fire and an infantry assault, our units maneuvered towards more favorable positions in order to save the lives of our soldiers and avoid casualties. The battle continues” , the Ukrainian general staff said on social networks.
Lifting of electricity rationing in several regions
After long power outages during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, which led operators to restrict access to electricity, rationing was lifted this Wednesday morning.
Russian bombing damaged power plants on Tuesday, leaving them unable to cope with falling temperatures, state power company Ukrenergo announced. “Between 9:00 p.m. and 00:00 a.m. (between 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. GMT, Editor’s note), Ukrenergo is obliged to carry out controlled emergency cuts in all regions of Ukraine. The reason for this is the significant lack of electricity in the system after Russian strikes and an increase in consumption due to a cold snap,” she explained on Telegram.
Russia says it neutralized 17 Ukrainian drones
“During the night, several attempts by the kyiv regime to carry out terrorist attacks […] against targets on Russian territory were prevented,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. Russian air defense systems notably intercepted and destroyed 17 aerial drones in several border regions of Ukraine, as well as ten ATACMS missiles over the annexed Crimean peninsula, according to the same source.
In the Rostov region, which houses the military headquarters of the Russian operation in Ukraine, two drones targeted a fuel depot, causing explosions, local governor Vasily Goloubev said on Telegram. The attack did not cause a fire, “no one was injured,” he assured.
Putin hails Beijing’s ‘sincere desire’ to help Ukraine crisis
Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed Beijing’s “sincere desire” to work to resolve the Ukrainian crisis, in an interview published Wednesday by Chinese state media ahead of his visit to China. The Russian leader is due to arrive in the Chinese capital on Thursday with the hope of obtaining clearer support for his war effort in Ukraine from his “dear friend” and counterpart Xi Jinping.
“We welcome the approach taken by China to resolve the crisis in Ukraine,” Vladimir Putin said in an interview with the state-run Xinhua news agency in Moscow. “Beijing is well aware of the root causes of the crisis and its global geopolitical importance,” continued the Russian president, who refers in particular to a 12-point document published by China in February 2023 to explain its position on the conflict.
Russia still growing, while Gaza war weighs on neighboring countries
The Russian economy has proven more resilient than expected and will continue to grow this year despite Western sanctions, while the war in Gaza weighs on countries in the region, according to new EBRD forecasts released on Wednesday. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which is holding its annual meeting in Yerevan, Armenia until Thursday, has published new growth forecasts for all the regions it covers.
“I think it was unrealistic to expect that sanctions against Russia would lead to a deep economic and financial crisis, as many hoped,” Beata Javorcik, chief economist of the Berd. Russia, which grew its economy by 3.6% last year, is expected to report a 2.5% increase in gross domestic product (GDP) this year, 1.5 percentage points higher than forecast in September , according to the latest EBRD projections. The Russian economy is now back above pre-war levels in Ukraine.
New Russian Defense Minister wants victory in Ukraine, with ‘minimal losses’
Russia’s new Defense Minister, Andrei Belousov, an economist with no military experience, said Tuesday he wanted to modernize the armed forces and achieve victory in Ukraine with “minimal human losses.” “The key objective of the special military operation (in Ukraine) is of course to achieve victory […] and this with minimal human losses,” he declared, without specifying what level of losses would be acceptable and while Russia does not reveal the number of its dead and wounded. On Tuesday, Mr. Belooussov, whose President Vladimir Putin confirmed the appointment the same day by decree, insisting that he wanted to “optimize” military spending.
Since the start of the assault on Ukraine in February 2022, many experts have spoken of several tens of thousands of Russian soldiers killed. The BBC and the independent media Mediazona, for their part, claim to have verified the deaths of at least 50,000 Russian soldiers.