The mayor of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, has stated that the situation in the city has been “calmer” since Ukrainian forces targeted and hit the Russian missile launchers that were shelling the area.
Terekhov’s remarks come nearly two weeks after the US and other Western nations authorized Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia near Kharkiv. He spoke at a conference in Germany, attended by President Volodymyr Zelensky, which aimed to encourage European nations to support and invest in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russia has claimed to have captured two Ukrainian villages as part of its ongoing offensive that began in May. The Russian defense ministry reported that Tymkivka in the Kharkiv region and Miasozharivka in the Luhansk region have been taken by its forces. Ukraine has not commented on these claims.
On Monday, President Zelensky mentioned that Ukraine is continuing “counter-strike activities” in the Kharkiv region. He also denied claims by pro-Russian Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov that his forces had captured a village in the Sumy region, which borders Russia to the west of Kharkiv, stating there was no Russian presence in the area.
On Tuesday, Zelensky delivered his first-ever speech to the Bundestag, the German parliament, making emotional references to Germany’s Cold War history of division and calling for future reparations from Russia for the damage it has caused.
“We will finish this war, in the interests of all of us, of all Europe. We will finish this war according to our conditions,” he said.
“You can understand why we are fighting so hard against Russia’s attempts to divide us, to divide Ukraine. Why we are doing absolutely everything to prevent a wall between parts of our country,” he said, in reference to the Berlin Wall.
He also warned about the danger to the European Union posed by pro-Russian rhetoric, especially in light of recent gains by far-right parties, some of which are pro-Russian, in EU elections.
Mr. Zelensky received a standing ovation for his speech, which was boycotted by the far-right AfD and the far-left BSW parties—both of which made significant gains in Sunday’s European elections. The BSW has been campaigning against the delivery of weapons to Ukraine.
The AfD framed their boycott as a protest against Mr. Zelensky, referring to him as a “war president.”
Ukrainian officials have reported five deaths from Russian bombardments in the last 24 hours, with four of them occurring in the Kharkiv region.
Mr. Terekhov noted that the shelling in Kharkiv had increased over the past two days, although the situation had generally been calmer.
“There has been a break in the shelling, which I think is connected with the fact that the equipment that Kharkiv was being shelled with has been successfully hit,” he told Reuters news agency.
“As compared to May, we experienced a more or less calm week until Sunday… Therefore, it’s been a bit calmer, but I can’t say that it’s been completely so.”
Speaking alongside the Ukrainian president on Tuesday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that Germany would be sending additional air defenses, including a third Patriot system and missiles, to support Ukraine.
In late May, U.S. officials stated that President Joe Biden had granted permission for Ukraine to use American-supplied weapons to strike targets in Russia, but only those near the Kharkiv region.
The city of Kharkiv is close to the Russian border, making it particularly vulnerable to attacks from within Russia.
Previously, Western nations had limited the use of their supplied weapons to Russian-held areas of Ukraine, fearing that strikes on Russian territory could escalate the conflict.