Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Friday that he still has “combat control” of the Kharkiv region despite Russian troops invading earlier this month.
Kharkiv is Ukraine’s second-largest city. Some 11,000 people evacuated the border nearest Russia into Kharkiv once troops entered the town of Vovchansk, which is about 12 miles away. Two people in Kharkiv were killed by a bomb Saturday in a construction supplies store, and some 33 people were injured. An estimated 200 people were in the store at the time.
The update comes after Russian troops reportedly “walked in” to the area because there wasn’t a “first line of defense” to stop them. Troops claimed at least nine villages and settlements at the time.
“Our soldiers have now managed to take combat control of the border area where the Russian occupiers entered,” Zelensky said.
Still, the Ukrainian president called for more foreign aid despite the recent win.
“If Ukraine had sufficient air defense systems and modern combat aircraft, Russian strikes like this one would have been impossible,” Zelensky said of the Saturday store bombing. “And that is why we appeal to all leaders, to all states: we need a significant enhancement of air defense and sufficient capabilities to destroy Russian terrorists. This is a task that must be accomplished and can only be accomplished together with the world.”
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Last month, the House of Representatives passed the Ukraine Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, which allocated $60.84 billion to the eastern European nation’s war effort against Russia. The 311-112 vote, which included exclusively Republican opposition, ended in some Democratic members waving the Ukrainian flag in the House chamber. It quickly passed the Senate and was signed by President Joe Biden.
Russia continues to maintain control of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson regions, even going as far as hosting elections there earlier this year, when Russian President Vladimir Putin was reelected.
