Putin is failing to make ‘huge breakthrough’ in Kharkiv | Oz Katerji

this offensive while uh very worrying for the ukrainians is still relatively small in in terms of what we've seen offensive wise in in the ter in the grand scheme of the War uh shall we say um so we're not expecting them to make a huge breakthrough in that area because they aren't pouring huge amounts of men into it the fighting is still Fierce don't get me wrong but I'm just trying to put that in perspective it's not the same uh level of invasion as as as happened in KV in 2022 Ukrainian president has warned Russia's offensive in the northeastern kke region may only be the first wave of several onslaughts in an interview with the AFP news agency Vladimir zalinski also said his army lacks enough troops and is only 25% of the air defenses it needs as Russia advances well let's get the latest now from correspondent in Ukraine osat good morning good morning so first of all just pick up on if you would on what vadir zalinski has been saying about this um offensive in h for a start is Russia gaining ground there what is the latest in that region so look Russia is gaining ground but not uh not significant SES of it uh the the offensive they began started on the 10th of May so it's been eight days now they haven't managed to make huge inroads into Ukrainian territory they're still fighting on the outskirts of the town of Chans that they uh that they had tried to capture um when the when the offensive began um it's important to put several things into context for your listeners uh the first being that this offensive while uh very worrying for the ukrainians is still relatively small in in terms of what we've seen offensive wise in in the ter in the grand scheme of the war uh shall we say um so we're not expecting them to make a huge breakthrough in that area because they aren't pouring huge amounts of men into it the fighting is still Fierce don't get me wrong but I'm just trying to put that in perspective it's not the same uh level of invasion as as as happened in KV in 2022 uh for example that's the main point the next point is that while uh the area they've taken is in Ukraine territory has ukrainians living on it um it's also not where the Ukrainian main defensive line was uh the the the main Ukrainian defensive line hasn't been overrun that's still further kilometers further back uh the area sat in what was known as a gray Zone which is a a sort of area that's contested uh between the two front lines uh and the area has been heavily shelled for years now um so the area that was that the Russians were able to move into they were able to move into with uh not a huge amount of resistance because as I said that that main defensive line is several kilometers further back now you could say should the ukrainians have built more defensive lines closer to the border that might have prevented it potentially all right there but uh that area was still under heavy bombardment so I think the ukrainians expecting uh that if the Russians did try and push through that they'd need the line further back anyway um so yeah those are the takeaways that I'd say is that while this is bad news for Ukraine while it is definitely diverting attention away from their main uh from the Russians main thrust in the East uh it's still relatively small scale and it hasn't breached the main Ukrainian defensive lines yet and when President zinski is talking about only having 25% of the air defenses it needs is that going to change when we know that the US Aid package has now passed and that those weapons are starting to arrive will it help plug that Gap um one thing it will definitely help plug uh gapwise is uh ammunition and a lot of what happened recently with attacks on energy infrastructure could have been avoided if Ukraine had had the ammunition to shoot down uh some of the missiles coming towards it uh for example the power plant that was destroyed thermal power plant that was destroyed about an hour and a half south of ke in the still in the Kev region um they had a volley of missiles heading towards them I think it was 13 missiles or something they managed to shoot down most of them but the the last few got through when they ran out of ammunition so that will help uh but what zalinsky is calling for in specifically is is two new Patriot batteries uh that's the entire system the radar the track of the LA everything um he says he needs two to be able to defend the KF region from Uh Russian bombardment so he needs new systems basically and he'll be pleading with his Partners in Europe in particular to to hand those systems over because as important as air defenses for any country's uh pardon me as important as air defenses for any country's um defense capabilities they're not currently facing um Airborne missile attacks uh and the ukrainians are so they'll be saying to their Partners hey look do you really need this Patriot battery in France or you know Spain or wherever uh we we need it more here so can you send what you have to us and that has been happening uh bit by bit um and and countries have been purchasing them to send to Ukraine but you know these are expensive systems as well uh and they fire expensive ammunition so uh that's why they haven't got as many as they want and they want more um but really it's up to Ukraine's allies to make up that shortfall I also want to ask you uh President Putin has been speaking at the end of his visit to China um and he was saying that Russia isn't seeking to capture harkee instead create a security Zone near the border what does he mean by that I mean look we could spend the entire ation talking about what Putin says and what Putin means the most important thing to remember is that Putin's a liar and that Putin is a uh dictator who is hellbent on destroying Ukraine and uh what things that he say shouldn't be believed he also said he wasn't planning to invade Ukraine so I put very little uh faith in in trying to interpret Putin's words as if he was any kind of normal politician and a normal Democratic country giving you know maybe not the 100% truth but giving at least a version or flavor of the truth in his speeches uh Putin's not doing that he's saying what he wants to uh for strategic and political purposes uh and that's what he says with regards to everything so he will happily lie uh through his teeth uh and say that he's not planning to take kiv even though he's absolutely planning to take KV uh I do believe that if the Russians I believe the Russians haven't given up trying to take kiv um and uh if this offensive was very successful for the Russians they would undoubtedly use it to launch further attacks deeper into Ukrainian territory uh and capture more Ukrainian territory so I don't think anyone should put any faith in anything Putin says because it's he's a known liar o Cy thank you for speaking to us this morning thank you speaking to us from Ukraine it's worth saying as well after 8:00 this morning we're going to be speaking to the time special correspondent Anthony Lloyd who's actually been out with drone operators effectively on the front line in Ukraine we heard there Oz talking about the expensive systems that the ukrainians are wanting from their allies well drones are incredibly cheap in war terms and are being hugely significant in their ability to get to the Russian front line and effectively just take out Russian soldiers Anthony Lloyd has been sitting with those drone operators e

Channel: Times Radio

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Id: HU8UPzjucW8

Length: 8min 47sec (527 seconds)

Published: Sat May 18 2024