Russian Armed Forces to Strike in Unexpected Places from the front line during their offensive in Ukraine this summer and will try to advance towards the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, the commander of the National Guard of Ukraine Oleksandr Pivnenko said today, BTA and Reuters report.
"We are getting ready. Yes, the enemy will give us unpleasant surprises. It will operate in areas where we don't expect (impacts). But he will not achieve his goal," Pivnenko told the Ukrainian media Liga.net.
Reuters notes that Ukrainian officials say Russia will advance in late spring or summer, while in Kiev they believe Moscow wants to capture the important eastern city of Chasov Yar by May 9, when it celebrates the day of the Soviet victory in World War II world war.
Pivnenko adds that he foresees Ukrainian forces experiencing "some difficulties", but according to him, Russia will not make decisive conquests on Ukrainian territory.
"Maybe they will be able to achieve 10-15 percent of their goals. But this will not be a strategic victory," the commander of the National Guard of Ukraine said.
At the same time, Reuters cited two US officials as saying that US President Joe Biden's administration has already prepared the first $1 billion tranche of the new military aid package for Ukraine. The agency said this would pave the way for supplies to Ukraine within the next few days, thereby boosting the morale of the Ukrainian army in its fight against the Russian invaders.
On Saturday, the US House of Representatives approved a $61 billion military aid package for Ukraine as part of a bill to help Kiev, Israel and other US allies, including Taiwan, for a total of 95 billion dollars. The new law should also be approved by the upper house of the US Parliament - the Senate, so that President Biden can sign it and it will come into force.
Meanwhile, in its daily intelligence briefing from today, the British Ministry of Defense informed that the capture of the village of Novomykhaylovka in eastern Ukraine by Russian forces puts the strategically located mining town of Ugledar under threat, DPA reported.
Russia has announced that it has established full control over Novomihailovka, in the Donetsk region. According to information from the Ukrainian army, Moscow carried out the operation with three hundred thousand soldiers.
Future progress north of Ugledar could threaten Ukrainian positions in the city, a strategic bastion whose attack has "cost too many casualties to Russian ground forces,", the British intelligence briefing quoted by DPA also said.
The agency also reported that Lithuania has delivered M577 armored personnel carriers to Kyiv, citing a statement from the Ministry of Defense in Vilnius today. DPA clarifies that no details have been provided either about the number of armored combat vehicles or their equipment.