Threat to Kharkiv forces Zelensky to back down and cancel trip to Portugal
Since May 10, Russia has intensified attacks on Kharkiv.
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Mundo Ofensiva
Volodymyr Zelensky canceled his visit to Spain and Portugal on Tuesday, after the date of his arrival in the neighboring country became official and after the Portuguese Defense Minister, Nuno Melo, confirmed the Ukrainian leader's presence in the country.
The Spanish Royal Palace had announced moments before that Zelensky would arrive in the neighboring country on Friday, May 17, where he would meet with King Felipe VI at noon. Everything seemed to be prepared for the arrival of the Ukrainian head of state until, at the end of the day, the agenda for the visit to Spain was canceled.
According to El Pais, the origin of this decision is the serious internal situation that Ukraine is experiencing, more specifically with a new Russian offensive that threatens Kharkiv, the country's second largest city, located about thirty kilometers south of the border with Russia
It should be recalled that Russian troops crossed the border in the Kharkiv region in recent days, opening a new combat front and taking control of several locations, similar to what they had done in the first months of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
On Monday, the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine acknowledged that the Russian Army had achieved "tactical successes" on the Kharkiv front, while the head of military operations in the region was replaced.
On the same day, a Russian airstrike on the city of Kharkiv caused at least 20 injuries, according to the local Prosecutor's Office, which reported in a statement that the victims are also in a state of "'acute stress'".
The Ukrainian Army announced Tuesday night that it had withdrawn forces from "certain areas" of the front in the Kharkiv region and that Russia was being successful in this offensive.
Due to this situation, the Ukrainian head of state was forced to cancel his visit to the Iberian Peninsula, where he was supposed to sign bilateral security agreements.
Read Also: Ukrainian forces retreat on the Kharkiv front due to Russian attacks (Portuguese version)
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