Bundeswehr report: Putin's troops are giving way in eastern Ukraine - and are now apparently targeting Odessa
Created: 05/18/2022Updated: 05/18/2022 13:48
By: Franziska Schwarz
Picture from May 15: A destroyed Russian tank north of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine.
© Mstyslav Chernov/AP/dpa
Around Kharkiv, Ukrainian fighters are pushing back the attackers.
An actually internal Bundeswehr report outlines Russia's plans.
Berlin - "We made it, we're here": Over the weekend, Kyiv reported military successes around Kharkiv, the second largest metropolis in Ukraine.
Soldiers from the 127th brigade north of Kharkiv "expelled the Russians and recaptured the state border," quoted the dpa news agency from a much-noticed - but initially not officially verified - video by the Defense Ministry.
It showed a group of Ukrainian soldiers at a yellow and blue border post.
Kharkiv is located in northeastern Ukraine, not far from the Russian border.
After the successful counter-offensive, President Volodymyr Zelensky's fighters are now expecting Vladimir Putin to withdraw his soldiers from the Kharkiv region.
However, the Kremlin is moving units for a new offensive towards Luhansk in the Donbass region, said Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych.
The information could not initially be independently verified.
But they coincide with a current internal Bundeswehr situation report, from which the
Business Insider
portal quoted on May 17th.
The report analyzes the current (mid-May) situation of Putin's troops in eastern Ukraine, despite numerical superiority:
Russian soldiers "probably" retreated about 15 kilometers from the center of Kharkiv.
They were even pushed back to within five to ten kilometers of the Ukrainian-Russian border.
Despite mobilization, they could not slow down the Ukrainian counter-offensive in the north and north-east of Kharkov.
Ukraine War: After Donbass, Is Putin Targeting Odessa?
Nevertheless: In the south and south-east of Ukraine, military events in the Ukraine war continue to be very unfavorable for Zelenskyj's fighters.
According to the Bundeswehr situation report, they cannot withstand the pressure from the Russian soldiers in Luhansk and are withdrawing.
In addition, Putin's troops are advancing westward - the strategically important port city of Odessa is one of their main targets.
They wanted to gain influence in the Cherson region and thus "increase the pressure on Odessa,"
Business Insider
quoted from the Bundeswehr report as saying.
US intelligence: Kremlin victory in Donbass not end of war
According to the American secret services, a possible Russian success in the Donbass would probably not mean the end of the Ukraine war.
Putin is preparing for a longer conflict.
In the process, he still intends to achieve goals beyond eastern Ukraine, US intelligence coordinator Avril Haines said at a Senate hearing in Washington.
You can read the background to the Ukraine conflict in brief here.
(frs with dpa material)
