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Zelenskyy says Russia is giving up on Kharkiv, months after Moscow tried to blow open the war's northeastern front
By Matthew Loh,
1 day ago
Zelenskyy said in June that Russia had "failed" its Kharkiv offensive, and now says it has moved its focus away from the northeastern front.
Carl Court/Getty Images
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia has shifted its focus away from Kharkiv, concentrating instead on the east.
His statement comes months after Moscow pushed into Kharkiv from the north with thousands of troops.
Russia denies its attack failed but hasn't made significant gains in the northeastern region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that Russia has moved its focus away from Kharkiv and to the eastern front, with fighting intensifying near the city of Pokrovsk.
"The main objective today, after their failure to capture Kharkiv, which we understand is no longer feasible, has shifted," said Zelenskyy, according to a translation by Ukrainian outlet Pravda.
"Their primary focus is no longer the entire east, though Sloviansk is not excluded," he added, referring to a city in northern Donetsk that borders the Kharkiv region.
His claim points to an end to Mocow's May push to break through defensive lines in Kharkiv, Ukraine's northeasternmost region on Russia's border.
Kyiv also told its allies that it had watched Russian troops massing at the border but could do nothing since it was restricted from firing into Russian territory with Western-made weapons. Some of those limits have since been removed , allowing Ukraine to strike deeper behind Russian lines.
Still, the Russian advance failed to achieve significant gains , and Moscow's control of Kharkiv is limited to small areas of the region. Russia's goal was reportedly to create a buffer zone to protect its border city of Belgorod, though this backfired when the West removed its restrictions on its weaponry.
Zelenskyy said in early June that Russia had "failed to implement its Kharkiv operation."
As he spoke to French reporters on Wednesday, he said that Moscow is now "concentrating the largest number of personnel, the largest number of weapons and KAB bombs" on Pokrovsk, per a translation from the Kyiv Independent.
In an update on July 24 , Ukrainian forces near the city described the fighting as "tense and difficult."
The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.
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