Desperate Putin helped by North Korea and Iran
Pariah states aid invader as defenders rally
RUSSIA is getting weapons from other pariah states to prop up its disastrous invasion of Ukraine, military experts believe.
A Ministry of Defence update said: “Russia is almost certainly increasingly sourcing weaponry from other heavily sanctioned states like Iran and North Korea as its own stocks dwindle.”
Ukrainian forces shot down an Iranian-made Shahed-136 drone, which analysts think is evidence of Moscow’s use of systems sourced from Tehran.
Russian forces have sustained heavy losses since the invasion of Ukraine began in February, and sanctions have restricted access to key components for its weapons systems.
Ukrainian forces have made huge gains recently.
President Zelensky yesterday visited his triumphant troops in the recaptured city of Izyum.
He watched a flag-raising ceremony, thanked the fighters and vowed that the Ukrainian flag would return to every city and village in the country.
Vladimir Putin’s troops left behind large amounts of ammunition and equipment as they fled, in their worst defeat since they were driven back from the capital Kyiv in March.
Zelensky said his forces were fortifying their hold over more than 3000 square miles of retaken territory in the Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine.
He said in a speech: “Before, when we looked up, we always looked for the blue sky, the sun.
“And today we, and especially the people in the temporarily occupied territories, looking up, are looking for only one thing – the flag of our state.
“This means the heroes are here.
“This means the enemy is gone.”
While Russia still controls around a fifth of Ukraine, towns in the eastern Donbas region that fell early in the war are now back in the sights of Kyiv’s advancing forces.
Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister Olga Stefanishyna said Russian officials had reached out to Ukraine to negotiate in recent days, a move she believes was aimed at slowing the rapid advance of the Ukrainian army.
Putin’s troops are also abandoning Melitopol, a city in the south-east. In the newly freed village of Chkalovske in the Kharkiv region, Svitlana Honchar said the Russians’ departure was both sudden and swift.
She added: “They left like the wind. They were fleeing by any means they
could.” Despite recent losses, President Putin does not see the invasion as a mistake, said Germany’s leader.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz added that he spent 90 minutes on the phone to Putin urging a ceasefire and withdrawal of his forces, without success.
Kyiv meanwhile is trying to persuade Russian troops to surrender.
It is launching shells filled with flyers reading: “Russians use you as cannon fodder. Your life doesn’t mean anything for them.” Ukraine says Russia launched eight cruise missiles at Kryvyi Rih in the south yesterday, aiming to disrupt water supplies.
An official reported no civilian casualties.
An unconfirmed report said Putin’s car was attacked in a possible assassination attempt.
An anti-Kremlin news outlet reported a loud bang then smoke emerging from his limousine’s left front wheel. The car drove on to safety.