12 April 2024, Friday, 19:38 2965

Russia will achieve great success this summer if Ukraine does not resolve two issues - Reuters

Editor: Daria Zubkova

Читати українською

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There are currently two main issues for Ukraine - the availability of ammunition and manpower. In case of their lack, the aggressor state of russia can achieve great success already this summer.

Reuters agency writes about this with reference to experts on Friday, April 12.

Russia has stepped up its air campaign against Ukraine over the past month, striking energy infrastructure and densely populated areas, especially Kharkiv. The exhaustion of Western military support, with a US military aid package stalled in Congress, left Kharkiv even more vulnerable.

"Now there are two issues: the issue of ammunition and the issue of manpower. If they solve them, I think that Ukraine will be able to restrain russia's advance. But if they are not solved, there is a high probability that russia will make more progress this summer," said Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Institute for Foreign Policy Studies, a think tank in Philadelphia.

As the head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, Oleh Syniehubov, noted, there is a catastrophic lack of air defense systems in the Kharkiv Region. Reuters notes that in the city, rolling blackouts last up to 12 hours a day, traffic lights do not work. Mobile coverage is not uniform, online GPS maps do not function properly.

Oleksandr Kovalenko, an independent military analyst from Odesa, said the strikes on Kharkiv appeared to be aimed at scaring residents into leaving the city, setting the stage for a possible ground operation later.

"At this time, russia does not have the forces and equipment to capture the city, but in the medium term, it can terrorize the civilian population in order to prepare the appropriate conditions," the agency quotes the expert as saying.

The head prosecutor of the region, Oleksandr Filchakov, told Reuters that all energy facilities in the Kharkiv Region were damaged or destroyed after the russian bombings, which caused large-scale power outages.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on April 11, The Wall Street Journal reported that the terrorist state of russia is destroying Ukrainian thermal power plants to lay the groundwork for a future offensive.

On April 9, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the russian occupiers are doing everything to displace civilians from Kharkiv and nearby settlements.

On April 5, the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine explained why it is difficult for the Ukrainian military to shoot down the missiles and aerial bombs that the russians launch on Kharkiv.