New Delhi: Russian troops were redeployed to Kharkiv Monday after withdrawing from the axis only 10 days ago.
On 13 May, the Institute for the Study of War had reported that Ukraine appeared “to have won the Battle of Kharkiv” having pushed back Russian forces from the city as was done in Kyiv. However, in a drastic turnaround, the battlefield has returned to Kharkiv.
The redeployment of troops of the separatist Luhansk People’s Republic and Donetsk People’s Republic from their positions in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas to the north of Kharkiv city indicates Russia’s renewed focus on defending against Ukraine’s counter offensives in the northeast of the country.
On 23 May, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Alexander Štupun reported that Russian forces were conducting “combat operations to maintain the previously occupied borders in the Kharkiv direction”, and that shelling resumed around the city.
Battle returns to Kharkiv
Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, spokesman for the Ministry of Defense in Ukraine, said that the 6th and 41st Combined Armies, the Baltic fleet, as well as the 1st and 2nd Army corps, are operating in the Kharkiv direction.
The 1st and 2nd Army corps consist of the armed forces of the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, and were primarily tasked with conducting offensive operations in the eastern Donbas region in the last few days.
The movement of these troops to specifically hold defensive lines in northern Kharkiv to slow down the Ukrainian counteroffensive signals a shift away from Russia prioritizing their position in the East.
Kharkiv is Ukraine’s second-largest city and is strategically important, lying just 25 km from the Russian border. The New York Times has called it “symbolically important” as it is a largely Russian speaking city, and was the first capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Moving out of subway hold-outs
The mayor of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, had on 19 May asked residents to move out of the underground subway station hold-outs where thousands found shelter amid heavy shelling in Kharkiv, reported NPR.
The mayor had said that the city was “now safe enough for residents to leave the metro stations”. Terekhov also restarted “four light rail lines, eight trolleybuses and 25 bus routes” to resume public transport in the city.
However, an on-ground NPR correspondent also reported that as of 14 May, people in Kharkiv were still “cautious” and many were concerned that the “battle might turn again”. Given the recent redeployment, these fears might come true.
Russian commander responsible for child’s death identified
The Ukrainian authorities Monday also identified a Russian commander who was responsible for indiscriminate shelling in residential settlements of Kharkiv that led to the death of a child in March.
According to a Facebook post of Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova, commander Maximov Sergei Viktorovich of the Russian Armed Forces was responsible for the order that led to the death of a child.
The Ukrainian authorities are now suspecting him of violation of the laws and customs of war, added the post.
Investigations also found that Viktorovich ordered his troops to fire TOS-1 ‘Pinocchio’ flamethrower systems on residential areas in the villages of Mala, Rohan, and Vilkhivka in Kharkiv. This fire led to the death of a 13-year-old girl, claimed the post.
Notably, Commander Viktorovich was born in Uzhhorod, a city in the west of Ukraine and the administrative centre of Zakarpattia Oblast today.
(Edited by Rewati Karan)
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