Russia will continue to storm Kharkiv region, open new direction - Ukrainian officer

He expressed this opinion on Espreso TV.

"As for Vovchansk, it is crucial for the Russian army to take it, because it can be a good enough foothold for further advancement to the rear of the Ukrainian Defense Forces grouping. Accordingly, the Ukrainian troops understand this and are beating the enemy quite hard. Russia has not had any tactical success on the battlefield over the past 24 hours, but the fighting in Vovchansk is quite difficult," said Fedorenko.

According to him, the Russian army acts in a typical way: it accumulates position after position, i.e. enters one building, establishes itself there and tries to move to another.

"The positions in front of them are being actively shelled by the Defense Forces with unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as many other things, tanks are firing at them from an open firing position, and artillery is working. Of course, the enemy is trying to inflict damage, including with guided aerial bombs. Warfare in urban areas, when you have fewer personnel than the enemy, is quite difficult, the Russians understand this, and therefore it was important for them to get involved in urban areas," explained the commander of the Achilles Battalion.

Regarding the situation in the Kharkiv region in general, Fedorenko said: "The Russian army will continue to attack quite actively, for the next two months for sure, because it has the strength, capabilities, and resources to do so. The enemy realizes that we are accumulating forces and resources in connection with the US military assistance, it takes time, the first ammunition has already appeared, the guns have started firing more - this is objective, but the maximum accumulation will take place in about 1.5-2 months. Therefore, during this period, the enemy will put pressure, and I think there is a very high probability that it will open another direction - it will be Sumy, or along the state border of the Kharkiv region, somewhere near the areas where the fighting is taking place. Time will tell, and our intelligence knows this for sure.”

• On May 13, the head of Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, said he expects a new Russian offensive in the Sumy region.
• Oleksandr Kovalenko, a military and political observer of the Information Resistance group, believes that the Russians do not have the functionality to capture Kharkiv or Sumy.
• Defence Express military expert Ivan Kyrychevskyi believes that a hypothetical Russian operation in the Sumy region would not be of a significant scale.