Ukraine’s president used his speech on Monday night to signal progress in the east and south and that further gains were being made as Kyiv pushed to take control of almost all of Kharkiv province. The gains are a sliver of Ukraine’s roughly 600,000 square kilometers of land, of which Russia has taken control of about a fifth, but US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that Ukrainian forces had made significant progress. “Clearly we’ve seen significant progress from the Ukrainians, particularly in the northeast, and that’s a product of the support we’ve provided, but first and foremost it’s a product of the extraordinary courage and resilience of the Ukrainian armed forces and the Ukrainian people,” Blinken told reporters in Mexico City. “It’s too early to say exactly where this is going. The Russians maintain very significant forces in Ukraine as well as equipment and weapons and ammunition. They continue to use it indiscriminately not only against the Ukrainian armed forces, but also against civilians and civilian infrastructure, as we’ve seen,” Blinken added. On Monday night Zelensky denounced Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure in retaliation for recent gains in Kharkiv, calling them “a sign of the desperation of those who invented this war. This is how they react to the defeat of Russian troops in the Kharkiv region. They can’t do anything to our heroes on the battlefield, and that’s why Russia is directing its vile strikes against civilian infrastructure.” Praising existing air defenses that he said shot down nine of Monday’s 12 Russian missiles, Zelensky said in an appeal to foreign nations: “Above all, speed up the provision of air defense systems.” Ukraine wins In his first public response to Ukraine’s gains in the Kharkiv region, which began less than a week ago, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday “the military operation continues” and “will continue until the targets were initially set was achieved’. Ukraine’s military intelligence service claimed the general commanding Russia’s western army group had been fired after the retreat to Kharkiv. It said General Roman Berdnikov had been replaced after less than three weeks in his post, but there was no confirmation from Russia. Mason Clark of the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) told the BBC that what Russia had described as a “rebuild” in Kharkiv was in fact “a total devastation” of Russian troops, who had to leave a lot of equipment. Russia’s retaliatory missile strikes knocked out electricity and water in the city of Kharkiv for the second time in less than 24 hours, hitting both on Monday morning, hours after city authorities had restored 80 percent of public services. benefits that had been interrupted during the night. Ukraine also said Russia had engaged in 18 missile and 39 airstrikes on Sunday night. At least four civilians were killed and 11 others wounded in Russian attacks in nine regions, the presidential office in Kyiv added.
