Russia wants to turn Kharkiv into a "gray zone" unsuitable for civilians. This is reported by the British edition of The Economist, citing military sources in Kyiv, UNN reports.
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At the same time, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov has stated that Kharkiv has no intention of surrendering. He argues that it was worse at the beginning of the war, when all but 300,000 of the pre-war population of 2 million left.
How can you turn a city like this into a gray zone? People will not leave because they have already left and then returned. They have already suffered enough
According to the mayor, providing the city with electricity without power plants and working transformers was a difficult task, but they managed to cope with it.
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The newspaper notes that many of Kharkiv's problems could have been solved if the West had provided powerful air defense systems or F-16s that could have pushed back bomb-carrying fighters. The Economist also writes that Russia has destroyed some of the Western-supplied Patriot air defense systems that Ukraine has used to defend cities like Kharkiv.
Russia's exact intentions at this stage are unclear, although there are clear signs that it is preparing for a major summer offensive, the article says.
A Ukrainian source with knowledge of the intelligence reports that Russia is currently preparing six divisions (approximately 120,000 troops) in Eastern Siberia
According to the newspaper, "Kharkiv is one of several possible directions for a future offensive. It is not the most likely, but it is already being intensively discussed by the Russian media.
This could indicate a Kremlin information campaign aimed at intimidating Kharkiv residents. Alternatively, it could be a nod to the pro-war camp, which is agitating for a tougher response to Ukraine's frequent attacks on Belgorod, which are also causing concern in Western circles
At the same time, The Economist states that a military operation to capture Kharkiv would be an extremely difficult task for Russia.
Capturing the city would require breaking through the Ukrainian defenses and its encirclement, which Russia is not even close to being able to do; establishing air superiority, which is not a given; and winning a bloody urban campaign