Russia fails to penetrate deep into Ukrainian troops' defense: military on situation near Vovchansk

He told this on Espreso TV.

"If you look at it, at the tactical level, the Russian army really tried to seize the moment and get ahead of the game in order to get deep into our territory, penetrate our defences and fortify for the approach of its main forces. That is, to create footholds near the settlements of Vovchansk and Lyptsi. This tactic is understandable, as the invaders tried to strengthen the Kupyansk direction from both sides at the operational or strategic level," the Ukrainian Armed Forces serviceman commented.

According to him, as of today, it is known that the enemy tried to outflank Vovchansk, but fighting has been going on in this area for five days. Line battles are taking place there, and the enemy subversive reconnaissance groups or special forces have not managed to penetrate the depths of our defence.

"In addition, Russia is trying to use aircraft to strike the city. We understand that this is not so much a military plan as an attempt to create an additional information pretext, demonstrating their toughness and making attempts to draw our reserves to this area. According to the first plan, the enemy wanted to understand what forces and means we have in this area, how quickly we can respond and what our power is. The battle for Vovchansk will continue, as the enemy expected to take this city as one of the bridgeheads. But as of today, even the advanced enemy units that entered the city have been destroyed," summed up Ivan Tymochko.

• The Russian occupation army has advanced no more than 8 kilometres from the border since the start of the offensive in Kharkiv region.
• The head of the Sievierodonetsk district military administration, Roman Vlasenko, noted that the intensity of Russian military operations in Luhansk region has decreased.
• A member of the Kharkiv regional council, Oleksandr Skoryk, said that Russian forces had not advanced or gained any ground in the Kharkiv region over the past 24 hours.
• On May 18, a woman was killed and five people injured as a result of Russian shelling of Vovchansk and Ukrainske village of the Vovchansk community.