A village in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region that was used by occupying Russian soldiers to launch strikes on the city of Kharkiv, which is the second-largest city in Ukraine, has been liberated. The village is Ruska Lozova, and sources for information on its liberation include the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, which stated: “The village of Ruska Lozova in the Kharkiv region was liberated from the occupiers by an assault unit of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, under the leadership of the Commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrsky. Currently, it is completely under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
⚡️Governor: Ukraine liberated village north of Kharkiv.
Kharkiv Oblast Governor said the military liberated the village of Ruska Lozova. According to the Armed Forces, this settlement was of strategic importance, as it was used as a base for artillery attacks on Kharkiv.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) April 29, 2022
As summarized by the Ukrainian government information source Ukrinform, “The agency said that this is a strategically important settlement located on the Kharkiv-Belgorod highway. It was from this suburb, during the Russian occupation, that the enemy fired at the civilian infrastructure and residential neighborhoods of Kharkiv.” Russian ground troops withdrew from areas including around the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, but elsewhere in Ukraine — including in the Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions — Russian forces are continuing their ground offensives. “Russians continue to focus their efforts on holding their positions near the city of Kharkiv and trying to inflict fire damage on units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in certain areas,” according to Ukrainian government sources this week.
⚡️ 2 alleged artillery spotters arrested in Kyiv.
They have photographed the results of the shelling that took place on April 28 in the city's Shevchenkivsky District and sent the photographs to Russian contacts, Deputy Interior Minister Eugene Enin said.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) April 29, 2022
The Donetsk region includes Mariupol, where tens of thousands have died amid months-long Russian attacks. The Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol ended up among the final sites for confrontation between Russian and Ukrainian personnel, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy indicated Friday that efforts to evacuate civilians from the plant would be unfolding, although few additional details were available. Hundreds of civilians were apparently there, alongside hundreds of Ukrainian military personnel. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently made a show of ordering Russian troops to blockade the Azovstal premises rather than continue attempts to seize it, although Russian strikes continued following that announcement. In Mariupol as a whole, some 100,000+ civilians apparently remain amid widespread destruction and losses of access to basic necessities such as running water. Deaths from starvation have been reported, adding to the impact of Russian forces’ indiscriminate violence. According to journalist Jack Detsch’s recap of comments from a senior U.S. official, Russia is mostly using unguided bombs against Mariupol.
NEW: Russia is mostly dropping dumb bombs on Ukraine's besieged city of Mariupol, a sign to U.S. officials that 🇷🇺 is struggling to restock precision-guided munitions: senior U.S. defense official
— Jack Detsch (@JackDetsch) April 29, 2022
The U.S., meanwhile, is continuing to prepare substantial assistance for Ukraine consisting of both weapons and economic aid. This week, President Joe Biden asked Congress to pass an additional $33 billion in aid for Ukraine, which would exponentially add to the totals that the U.S. has already provided. Russia, meanwhile, continues to face strategic setbacks — according to The New York Times, “Despite having much shorter supply lines now than they did during the war’s first several weeks in Ukraine’s north, the Russians have not overcome their logistics problem, [a] Pentagon official said, citing slow shipments of food, fuel, weapons and ammunition.” Russians failed to capture Kyiv before moving their ground offensives elsewhere and have sustained high-profile losses like a slew of generals and the large warship named the Moskva, which was apparently the largest Russian warship to be lost in fighting since World War II. Ukrainians struck it before its sinking.
⚡️ UK ambassador Melinda Simmons returns to Kyiv.
"It was a long drive but worth going the distance," she tweeted on April 29. "So good to be in Kyiv again." The British embassy left Kyiv a week before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) April 29, 2022