The russian occupiers want to advance on Kharkiv, but they realize that it is very difficult and they need to throw large forces to do so. That is why it is more important for russia to pull Ukrainian troops away from Donbas as much as possible. This was stated by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an interview with the French news agency AFP, commenting on russia's offensive in the Kharkiv region, an UNN correspondent reports.
Details
When asked whether there was a risk of a ground offensive on Kharkiv, Zelenskyy replied: "Yes, they want to. They understand that Kharkiv is very difficult, it is a big city, and they understand that we have forces that will fight for a long time. That is, they need to throw a lot of forces at it. Therefore, the most important thing for them is to pull our troops as far as possible from the east, and I mean the east in our usual sense, which is Donbas.
According to him, the russians realize that they can slowly push toward Kharkiv, while Ukraine will pull back its troops. This is their main desire.
If they felt weakness somewhere in this area, they would press on. If you stop them, they will not die in millions for the sake of Kharkiv. In my opinion
In fact, the entire Kharkiv operation of the russian federation comes down to an attempt to weaken the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the frontline as a whole - Zelensky
Addendum
Zelenskyy stated that the Ukrainian military controls all entrances to the Kharkiv region, the work of occupation troops, heavy equipment, and all enemy offensives.
Zelenskyy also reported that the russian offensive could consist of several waves. The first wave was in the Kharkiv region.