Km wide. The Main Intelligence Agency says that they knew about the russians plans. Well, you see footage from vovchansk, why did the Kharkiv Region become the target of the russians . Analysts believe that this is how they are trying to draw Ukrainian Forces away from other areas of the front, and also to create a buffer zone for the protection of bielgorod. By the way, Vladimir Putin also spoke about the buffer zone. According to experts, russia was preparing for this offensive. And pulled about 30,000 troops to the border, and what about the advance of the russians it became possible, we will also talk about it a little later, but for now we will look at the situation in vovchansk, a city that was under Russian Occupation in 2022, and which they are trying to capture again. The bbcs Jonathan Beale has returned from there. The road to russia, only a few kilometers from the border, and evidence that the russians have again. Returned to the Kharkiv Region. The city of vovchansk was liberated during a surprise attack by ukrainian troops less than a year ago. Now it is again in the hands of the russians. Alexei, the local policeman is calling again population to leave. He says it is better than dying. The shelling is constant and chaotic throughout the city. We move quickly after hearing the sound of a russian drone. And look at the copter, and thats all, thats all thats left of serhiys house, go through, its gone, familiar russian tactics, turning cities into ruins, but serhiy says he cant leave, he has to look after the goats, thats all, what he has left you can hear, the day before it was more intense, what was once one mans house has now been destroyed by a russian guided air bomb, and this is the sound jet plane. Russia outnumbers ukraine in armaments and numbers and uses aerial guided bombs for destructive action. Oleksiy simply says look whats happening. This forced some to make the final decision to evacuate. Although it breaks alexanders heart. He grew up in this house and does not know if he will ever return here. The ukrainian authorities claim that they were ready, but not everyone agrees. This drone video shows russian soldiers crossing the border unimpeded. Two hours, im at the front. The same territories you already fought for before, in the 22nd year, the same again. The same ones. Are you angry very. Denis, the commander of the Intelligence Unit of the armed forces of ukraine, helped push back the russians in the 22nd year. Now he has to fight again for the same territory. We saw it, the russians just went out on foot, without an unmined field, they just went out on foot where they couldnt go. Ukraine says it is repelling the offensive because. That they sent reinforcements, but russia is testing the entire front line over 1,000 km long, and the russians found a weak spot in the Kharkiv Region. We are talking about the situation in the Kharkiv Region, with our guest, the executive director of the Ukrainian Center for security and cooperation , dmytro zhmailo. Mr. Dmytro, good evening, thank you for joining us, we just heard the words of a military man that the russians actually entered kharkiv oblast on foot without any obstacles, as he says, how did they manage to advance like that, well, it is worth understanding the emotional component, because our troops they perform their tasks in extremely difficult conditions, we must understand that the Russian Federation in this direction has created a fairly powerful group, which has up to a thousand units of armored vehicles, up to a thousand units of arch systems, about 400 tanks, and they are now really trying to attack while they have, as they think , time, until help arrives. If we talk about why this is so, then we must understand that the logic of defense is not based on. Geographical borders, not on the state border, but on military positions, respectively, those settlements where the russians are now, they are mostly are located in the lowlands, where it is difficult to hold the defense, so we try to counterattack and repel these attacks of the Defense Force at more advantageous positions for ourselves, at more advantageous lines. It is impossible to do so, to dig a real continuous line of trenches along the state border, to fill everything with concrete. Build it, unfortunately, it does not work like that, that is why we have an active defense, the armed forces are constantly maneuvering, we know that vovchansk is one of the key areas for this operation of the russians, so today the attack was repelled there and stopped, despite to the fact that the number of armed clashes is constantly increasing, and an operation by the armed forces of ukraine to clear these territories from the russians is currently underway in the northern outskirts of vovchansk, so the situation. Yes, it remains extremely difficult, but the new team of the general staff knows what it is doing still remains under ukrainian control, although the fighting is very heavy, the situation is indeed very tense. Yes, and in your opinion, this breakthrough in the Kharkiv Region is the main direction of the russian offensive, which the military and Political Leadership of ukraine itself it was announced, yes, that it is being prepared, but is this exactly how the ukrainians are distracted . Forces, i would, if we look at the maps, we can clearly see that the front line is more or less flat, it corresponds to the silhouettes somewhere near the state border, so i would not speak in terms such as breakthrough. The russians are pursuing several goals with this operation, first of all, they want to transfer part of the Ukrainian Military units from Donetsk Region, so that they can be tied up in battles here, so they want to push back. Our positions so that ukraine does not attack military objects and legitimate military targets in the belgorod region, which suffered from ukrainian strikes and attacks. And yes, the russians want to expand the front line in general, because while we are talking, the worlds attention, which is naturally focused on the Kharkiv Region, is growing critical in other directions, and the chasivry in the kramatorsk direction, the pokrovsky direction, and the lymansk region are still under threat. In this direction , the number of skirmishes and strikes increases, but at the same time , the Defense Forces effectively destroy the advancing enemy forces, only in the kharkiv direction, which we are talking about today, in a day more than 100 occupiers were destroyed, military equipment and other means of defeating the enemy were burned, so yes, the situation is really dynamic, our defenders are constantly trying to counterattack, and we are talking, well , really about. That the operation of the russians, this is their blitz cry , about which we have given in advance, it did not succeed, and if we talk about the prospects of this development, then the russians have this group, it is definitely not enough to attack the city of kharkiv, they need to at least triple the size of their group, which at the moment is not seems possible for them. Yes, of course, dmitry, stay with us, we will talk with you, but in the meantime, western experts. They say, the russian offensive in the Kharkiv Region also highlights the problems of ukraine, about weak points on the front line, about slow mobilization, as well as about the lack of ammunition, while the United States delayed the allocation of aid for more than six months. And this is what semiel ramani, an observer from the British Royal institute of defense studies, said on the bbc. Apparently, the russians had been planning to start for some Time Military operations in Kharkiv Region. Russia follows an old strategy, ukraine understands this. Since the beginning of 2023, they have been evacuating civilians, but i think that russia is now intensifying its operations due to the fact that it feels in ukraine that there is a shortage of Personnel Resources and a lack of military equipment. In the temporary yar and in Donetsk Region , the russians are not making the progress they had hoped for and are counting on. If the ukrainians redirect their limited resources to kharkiv, they will be able to achieve the results they need in large Populated Areas on daughters even before the American Congress approved the aid package for ukraine , there were discussions about the fact that the aid would be delivered within one or two weeks. And it will include air defense systems, antiaircraft missiles, artillery shells, and this is the most important thing at the moment. The most important thing for the front in the Kharkiv Region is artillery shells, they will help not only to stabilize the ground offensive of the russians, but also to counter what the russians are doing from the air, because kharkiv is much more vulnerable to attacks on Energy Infrastructure and russian missiles than other large cities of ukraine, such as kyiv and odesa. Yes, this was the opinion of a western expert, and we are returning to the conversation, information also appeared about personnel reshuffles, about the change of the commander responsible for the kharkiv direction, dmytro, could such changes in the commanders indicate that the defense of the Kharkiv Region didnt go according to plan . I dont think it can indicate that something went wrong, because if something went wrong, weve been seeing for days. Fighting continues, and they will continue, we must be prepared that the fighting in this area may last for a month or two, but todays personnel changes i still connected more with the operative reaction of the top military leadership to the situation that has developed, this rotation , which was carried out in this direction, Brigadier General mykhailo trapatoy was appointed, this is a combat officer who also participated in antiterrorist operations. Operations, in particular, when he led one of the battalions of the 72nd brigade, this is exactly the battalion that in the 14th year released mariupol, he was also involved in managing operations on the right bank of the kherson region, that is, he is a military man with real combat experience who knows what he is doing, so this is most likely, i repeat, an Operational Response to the situation that has developed and those personnel changes, just in order to improve the situation that we have. About something not going according to plan, or about the russians making a breakthrough and the front line falling somewhere in this area, there is no question, that is clear, and experts also say that russia is attacking because of delays aid in ukraine, there is a lack of ammunition, we also talked about this with you, but i wonder if you see signs that the kremlin is in a hurry to take advantage of this, there is absolutely, he understands that he has about two months until. We wont build up these forces, so in these two months he will try to squeeze everything out of the situation, while ukraine lacks all these weapons that are just coming in now, so this is the time for them really to seize as much territory as possible to improve their situation at the front, we see how much their losses are growing, well, in the hundreds, in the hundreds of personnel, as the equipment is destroyed. Russian, they are now just trying to outnumber us, they are actually driving their people to their deaths and simply in order to extract maximum dividends for themselves, because in july the 75th anniversary of the founding of the North Atlantic Alliance will take place, and they need to show that it is not our incapacity and the reliability of the entire western democracy and the western system, that s why its a. Bad time for them, they will continue to put pressure on us, but we already know that in particular, those russian soldiers who are participating in the kharkiv operation in the north of Kharkiv Region, some of them are already beginning to refuse to carry out their tasks precisely because the enemys losses are now too high due to such a pace, they have increased by many positions. Thank you, dmytro zhmailo, executive director of the Ukrainian Center for security and cooperation, was with us, thank you for. Analysis, and bbc ukraine correspondents will monitor the situation, and read more about the battles in kharkiv oblast on our website bbc. Ua, in the article russia opened the kharkiv front, why did it happen and what will happen next . Well, thats all for today, well see you tomorrow, as always, at 9 p. M. All the best and take care. Greetings, friends, this is the second part of the verdict program, my name is serhii rudenko, we work live on the tv channel, as well as on our youtube and facebook platforms. Today we will talk about personnel changes in ukraine, and not only in ukraine, because putin is trying to reshuffle the power bloc, which means during the russianukrainian war a change of allies, or rather, not even allies, but partners with others, why is putin doing this, and what does he want to achieve as a result . Well talk about all of this for the next 45 minutes, today, as usual. On mondays i will have my comments on the events that are happening in the world and in ukraine, the world and how it affects ukrainian life. I would like to remind you that in addition to live broadcasting, we also work on the youtube and facebook platforms. For those who are currently watching us live there, please dont forget to support our broadcast of like, and also participate in our survey. Today we ask you about this. Do you think the influence of the president s office on other branches of the Ukrainian Government is excessive . Yes, no, everything is quite simple on youtube, if you watch us on tv, pick up your smartphone or phone and vote. If you believe that the office of the president excessively influences other branches of government in ukraine 0800211381, no 0,800211382 . All calls to these numbers are free, vote at the end of the program. We will sum up the results of this vote. Literally a week ago, the socalled inauguration of the socalled president , the so called putin, took place. On may 7, at five oclock in the kremlin , putin was crowned, he wanted to say, he was inaugurated, he was crowned, because what happened both during the socalled Election Campaign and in the recognition of this election. Campaign, especially in the results of these elections, shows that part of the world continues to perceive putin as the leader of russia, as a person who usurped power, but part of the world is still forced to go to his inauguration, to talk about the fact that, well, the elections were illegitimate, obviously they were not free, but putin is the leader of russia, well , in this situation. It seems to me that the west and our western partners, including partners , should add that putin is the selfproclaimed president , since the elections that took place in russia on march 17, they were also held on the territory of the ukrainian state in the occupied areas, luhansk, donetsk, zaporizhzhia and kherson regions in the republic of the autonomous republic of crimea, which does not comply with any international norms, and so literally. A week passed, putin began, excuse me, to demonstrate how he runs the country, personnel changes, a change of Prime Minister, a new old Prime Minister, but the most important thing is that six days after this inauguration, putin announced a replacement the minister of defense, or rather the minister of attack of the Russian Federation. Serhiy shaigu is this reindeer breeder who is a hero. Of the Russian Federation, the socalled hero of the Russian Federation, by the way, he received this title in 1999, and is a general, wears a generals uniform, and on victory day 9 on may 10, he received a parade on red square and reported to putin, here is such a handsome general, he is no general, he did not serve in the army, he did not manage the army properly, but he stayed in office for 12 years. The minister of defense, that is, a person who has absolutely no concept of zeleny, what a service is, what an army is, but finally putin realized that he does not understand anything about it at all, he dismissed serhiy shayga, a separatist, a man who is a war criminal, yes , as is Vladimir Putin, because for the last 10 years they have been waging war against ukraine, the 11th year already went and over the past two years, they have been striking all over the territory of ukraine, conducting a largescale attack on the ukrainian state. Shaiga was transferred to the position of secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, in this position during almost the entire period of putins presidency, with the exception of a few years, was mykola patrushev, the man who, after the election of. The president , president putin in 2000, headed the federal Security Service of ukraine, this is the same patrushev who planted explosives under. Civilian houses in in moscow, in algadonsk, in budonovsky, in other cities of the Russian Federation, he planted these, according to the testimony of the disg