Ukraine war: Putin’s troops suffer heavy casualties in Kharkiv

Ukrainian soldiers are looking to isolate Russian units that are advancing across the nearby border in Vovchansk near the Kharkiv battlefield. The past weekend has seen massive escalation in fighting in the region.

Military bloggers on both sides have confirmed heavy combat at an aggregate plant on the northern edge of Vovchansk.

“Ukrainian military observer Kostyantyn Mashovets stated that around 200 Russian soldiers, including dead and wounded, are currently isolated in the Aggregate Plant after Russian forces tried to cross the Vovcha River east of the plant on an unspecified date and entered the plant after coming under Ukrainian fire,” said The Institute for the Study of War in its latest analysis.

The situation in Vovchansk, east of Kharkiv and a few miles from the state border, is “difficult but controlled”, said on Ukrainian squad commander. He claimed Russian troops were “surrounded”.

“Our guys are not losing their positions, occasionally conducting successful assaults, liberating positions and pushing the enemy back,” Buniatov said in a post on Telegram yesterday.

The ISW’s assessment added that the Russian military command is “trying to withdraw degraded elements of the 25th Motorized Rifle Brigade (6th CAA, LMD) and 83rd Separate Guards Airborne (VDV) Brigade that have become combat-ineffective due to high losses”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised Friday to “immediately” order a cease-fire in Ukraine and start negotiations if Kyiv began withdrawing troops from the four regions annexed by Moscow in 2022 and renounced plans to join NATO. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected what he called an ultimatum by Putin to surrender more territory.

Putin’s remarks came as Switzerland prepared to host scores of world leaders — but not from Moscow — this weekend to try to map out first steps toward peace in Ukraine.

They also coincided with a meeting of leaders of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations in Italy and after the U.S. and Ukraine this week signed a 10-year security agreement that Russian officials, including Putin, denounced as “null and void.”

A total of 78 nations have called for the “territorial integrity” of Ukraine to be the basis for any peace agreement to end Russia’s two-year war as Volodymyr Zelensky wrapped up two days of hectic talks in Switzerland.

About 100 delegations, mostly Western countries, attended the conference that was billed as a first step toward peace. They included presidents and prime ministers from France, Germany, Britain, Japan, Poland, Argentina, Ecuador, Kenya and Somalia. The Holy See was also represented, and vice president Kamala Harris spoke for the United States.

India, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates — represented by foreign ministers or lower-level envoys — were among countries that did not sign the final document, which focused on issues of nuclear safety, food security and the exchange of prisoners. Brazil, an “observer,” did not sign on but Turkey did. China did not attend.

The final document signed by 78 countries said the UN Charter and “respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty — can and will serve as a basis for achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine.”

This particular clause has been a nonstarter for Putin, who wants Ukraine to cede more territory and back away from its hopes of joining the Nato military alliance.

The joint communique capped a two-day conference marked by the absence of Russia, which was not invited. Many attendees expressed hope that Russia might join in on a road map to peace in the future.

Russia is fighting to capture Ukraine’s second largest city at a high attrition rate and the cost of warfare on its troops has been leaked by its own troops who have highlighted the grim picture.

Only 12 out of 100 soldiers were found alive after Russian unit – fifth company of the 1009th regiment – came under Ukrainian fire and drones in nearby Vovchansk city, said one of the soldiers Anton Andreev, reported The Guardian.

“They just chop us up. We are sent under machine guns, under drones in daylight, like meat. And commanders just shout ‘forward and forward’,” he said in a video message, the report added.

The heavy losses has also forced Russia to withdraw its troops from the Kharkiv frontline, said Ukrainian military officials.

“Ukrainian Kharkiv Group of Forces Spokesperson Yuriy Povkh stated that elements of the Russian 138th Motorized Rifle Brigade (6th Combined Arms Army [CAA], Leningrad Military District [LMD]) are unsuccessfully attacking in the Kharkiv direction and that the Russian military command is trying to withdraw degraded elements of the 25th Motorized Rifle Brigade (6th CAA, LMD) and 83rd Separate Guards Airborne (VDV) Brigade that have become combat-ineffective due to high losses,” reported The Institute for the Study of War.

Vladimir Putin can start peace talks with Ukraine leadership as soon as “tomorrow” if they leave our soil first, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said as he wrapped up the peace summit in Switzerland.

“Russia can start negotiations tomorrow if they pull out of our territories,” he said, stating that Moscow’s presence at negotiations would demonstrate its willingness for peace.

He also denied falling back on diplomatic means to solve the intensifying battlefield offensive and said Ukraine has always called for peace, reported BBC.

At the Swiss event, the challenge was to talk tough on Russia but open the door for it to join a peace initiative.“Many countries… wanted the involvement of representatives of the Russian Federation,” Zelensky said. “At the same time, the majority of the countries do not want to shake hands with them (Russian leaders)… so there are various opinions in the world.”

Ukrainian firepower has been improving since U.S. lawmakers approved a much-needed military aid package this spring, though not quickly enough to halt the Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine.

Although the influx of Western munitions has shrunk Kyiv‘s glaring artillery disadvantage, Moscow’s forces are still gaining ground along the snaking front line and will likely continue to do so through the summer, when the drier ground and longer days will only aid their push.

Ukraine is still on the defensive in the Donetsk region, enabling Moscow’s forces to inflict heavy losses during Ukrainian troop rotations and bringing them closer to crucial Ukrainian supply routes.

Peter Pellegrini was sworn in as the president of Slovakia on Saturday in a ceremony that took place amid heightened security following an assassination attempt on his close ally, populist Prime Minister Robert Fico, a month ago.

Pellegrini called for national unity in his speech at a special session of Parliament that took place at the seat of the Slovak philharmonic, becoming Slovakia’s sixth president since it gained independence after the disintegration of Czechoslovakia in 1993.

“We are one nation, one society, one Slovakia,” he said.

Countries resumed talks Sunday on how to iron out issues of nuclear safety, prisoner exchanges and exports of food from Ukraine that have arisen due to Russia‘s two-year war there, and ways to bring peace to Ukraine — even though Moscow is not represented.

Leaders from many Western countries and others including Ecuador, Somalia and Kenya were meeting in the Swiss resort of Bürgenstock to lay out their visions of what peace could look like in Ukraine one day. Many hope that Russia will join in one day, but say it needs to agree to respect Ukraine’s territory — about one quarter of which it occupies.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni on Saturday dismissed a cease-fire offer for Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin as “propaganda,” as she wrapped up a Group of Seven summit that saw a deal reached for a $50 billion loan to Ukraine.

The loan will be provided by the U.S., U.K., Canada and possibly Japan, Meloni said. The frozen Russian assets to be used as collateral are mainly in Europe, “so Europe is already contributing by identifying the guarantee mechanism,” she added.

The loan agreement was reached at the opening Thursday of the two-day annual meeting of leaders from the G7 countries of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States in southern Italy’s Puglia region.

Several hundred LGBT Ukrainian servicemen and their supporters marched in central Kyiv Sunday to demand more rights and highlight their service to their country in its war with Russia.

The servicemembers — many wearing rainbow and unicorn patches on their uniforms — called on the government to grant them official partnership rights. They described the event as a pride march but it did not have the celebratory atmosphere of peacetime events and took place in the rain and under a heavy police guard amid threats from counterprotesters.

The role of LGBT members in the military has been credited with shifting public attitudes toward same-sex partnerships in the socially conservative country.