Ukraine on Wednesday said it was pushing Russian troops away from the country’s second city Kharkiv but facing stiff resistance, as Washington predicted that Vladimir Putin was ready for a long war The Trumpet gathered.
With President Joe Biden’s warning that Ukraine would within days likely run out of funds to keep fighting, the U.S. House of Representatives voted late Tuesday to send a $40 billion aid package to the country.
Russia has focused on eastern Ukraine after failing to take Kyiv. Ukraine’s forces are struggling to hold on in the Donbas region, but have been boosted by what Kyiv says is the recapture of four villages around Kharkiv further north.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address Tuesday that he had “good news” from Kharkiv.
“The occupiers are gradually being pushed away,” he said. “I am grateful to all our defenders who are holding the line and demonstrating truly superhuman strength to drive out the army of invaders.”
Ukraine’s general staff of the armed forces said on Facebook on Wednesday that “occupiers continue to focus their efforts on preventing the further advance of our troops towards the state border of Ukraine” from Kharkiv.
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The head of the Kharkiv regional state administration Oleg Synegubov stated four villages, Cherkasy Tyshky, Rusky Tyshky, Rubizhne and Bayrak across the metropolis had been liberated, however, that “fierce battles” have been nevertheless raging.
Despite the obvious gains, Zelensky urged Ukrainians against “moral pressure, when certain victories are expected weekly and even daily,” a reflection of the grinding war that is now deep into its third month.
A stark example of that could be seen in the Kharkiv region itself, where Synegubov announced that 44 civilian bodies had been found under the rubble of a destroyed building in the eastern town of Izyum, now under Russian control.
