Russia ‘pegged back so much’ by Ukrainian military forces

Russia ‘pegged back so much’ by Ukrainian military forces

the Ukrainian troops have managed to pile on in into the Northeast front line and they are managing to Peg back the Russians there’s there’s an intense amount of Street Fighting that’s going on in vob chanks and so whilst Russia did make um territorial gains there was a huge amount of concern uh across Ukraine that that those gains that they they were getting were essentially eliminating what they they managed to achieve two years ago when Russia first made that incursion um that have managed to Peg them back uh to some degree and and that’s been seen as a success for Ukraine now at least 11 people have been killed and dozens injured in a Russian air strike on a supermarket in the northern Ukrainian city of hke President Vladimir zalinski has said more than 200 staff and Shoppers could have been inside the store when it was struck by two Glide bombs Maxim Tucker reports on Ukraine for the times in harv there was a horrendous Russian bombing attack on a crow Ed shopping center on a Saturday afternoon some 60 people are believed to have been wounded at this time 17 people are missing the city center was also attacked with rocket fire at the same time given that this is Ukraine’s second largest city I think it is extremely alarming for ukrainians to see uh some of the gains that who were made in the counter offensive of the early months of the war starting to possibly be reversed and certainly the Russians take the initiative in bombing major towns and cities once more well that’s Maxim Tucker who reports on Ukraine for the Times let’s speak to Paul Sims who is the son’s senior correspondent in hke morning Paul morning just give us a sense of what it is like in hke at the moment and I mean I was reading just on Thursday there were 15 strikes in a single day just just give us a sense of what it’s like there it’s just lless the uh the bombing campaign from the Russians uh happens morning noon and night on a daily basis we’re getting alerts through um uh every hour um from uh threats of uh missile attacks uh the glider bombs it is just nonstop so you’ve got the front line over towards V chanks and lipy where the intense fighting is taking place where Russia pushed through over the Border uh in a bid to try and make some territorial Gap they’ve been pegged back but in the meantime Russia is launching this aerial Blitz on har City so if I take you back a few days on Thursday they struck a printing press it’s not a military Target this this is a civilian premises where people were working there were 50 people there on Thursday uh of the 50 seven people were killed a further 16 were wounded we had more more attacks uh the days that followed and then yesterday in possibly the deadliest single most deadliest strike uh on hary the second largest city since the start of the war happened and just to give you a quick update the death toll is since risen to 12 we’ve got at least 43 others wounded and as zalinsky said and also the city mayor they believe that 200 people were inside the epicenter DIY store which is a it’s it’s the equivalent of B and Q in the UK it’s a huge building it’s about 10,000 10,000 M square foot sorry 10,000 square foot in size uh and when I spoke to Witnesses we arrived a few minutes later when I spoke to witnesses there um there were there was no one coming out they don’t believe there are any survivors so I expect that death toll to rise significantly in the coming hours gosh um I was also reading about one of the horrendous tactics that the Russians are using at the moment is the tactic of bombing somewhere and then as the rescue workers go in to try and help they bomb again it’s um it’s known as a double tap so what the Russians do if I can give you an example on the um on the printing presses on Thursday they fire uh they fired an s300 surface to a missile uh they strike an area just before the printing presses that causes pandemonium people begin to Run Emergency Services head towards the scene and then they fire in the second s300 missile uh so that they can call and create the the the greatest amount of casualties and kill the most amount of people it’s um it’s it’s frightening being here but this is something that Ukrainian people live through and have lived through for every day for the last two years I mean I guess this really underlines the concerns that The ukrainians Have and president zalinsky has outlined many times before about the lack of air defenses yeah he made the point yesterday so whilst he he described this attack yesterday on the uh the DIY Center as a manifestation of Russian Madness it also underlines what he’s trying to argue that the air defenses across Ukraine just aren’t sufficient to deal with this constant aerial bombardment from Russia he’s made a repeated please and he did it again yesterday for Western allies to step up to the mark uh I mean we we saw didn’t we with the uh the US military aid package being delayed as a result of that delay the window of opportunity opened up across the border on May the 10th which which gave Putin that ability to send his troops across the border not necessarily unopposed but um they certainly didn’t face as severe a fight back as they would have done had Ukraine been properly armed are you getting a sense that that Russia is growing in confidence particularly in the region you’re in if you’d asked me that question a week ago I would probably have said yes but in the day that have followed Ukrainian military forces have managed to redeploy um towards uh the northeastern H essentially what Russia is doing is stretching the front line and by stretching the front line they stretch the Ukrainian Armed Forces but the Ukrainian troops have managed to pile on in into the Northeast front line and they are managing to Peg back the Russians there’s there’s an intense amount of Street Fighting that’s going on in vob chanks and so whilst Russia did make um territorial gains there was a huge amount of concern uh across Ukraine that those gains that they they were getting were essentially eliminating what they they managed to achieve two years ago when Russia first made that incursion um they have managed to Peg them back uh to some degree and that’s been seen as a success for Ukraine but obviously the the days uh will follow we’ll see what happens but it’s a very very volatile situation um and and it’s it’s growing in intensity and I think Russia um is just going to constantly bombard the area and because they are being pegged back so much on the ground I think the aerial blitzes the missile attacks will just grow Paul thank you so much for speaking to us today and stay safe thank you that is Paul Sims he is the son’s senior correspondent speaking to us from hke and it really just I think it really brings it home you know there’s always a worry isn’t there that there’s a sense of War fatigue that people say oh gosh you know the Ukrainian War it’s been going on so long we hear the headlines in the newspapers and we hear it on the radio and maybe it doesn’t kind of affect us in the same way as it did in the early stages of the war but for Paul to turn around and say that the bombing yesterday of the doy store was effectively like bombing B and Q yeah and there were around 200 staff and and and customers in there it just gives you a real sense of what ukrainians are living with day in day out and that’s why it’s really important we continue to bring all of the details to you here on time absolutely right on just you know just trying to live their lives in in a war zone

“It’s growing in intensity and I think Russia is just going to constantly bombard the area because they are being pegged back so much on the ground.”

Ukrainian military forces have prevented Russia from making large territorial gains, says The Sun’s senior correspondent in Kharkiv Paul Sims.

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