Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed replacing Sergei Shoigu as defense minister on Sunday and appointed him secretary of Russia's national security council.
The appointment comes after Putin proposed appointing Andrei Belousov as the country's defense minister to replace Shoigu, who has held the post for years. The reshuffle comes as Putin begins his fifth presidential term and the war in Ukraine drags on for a third year.
In accordance with Russian law, the entire Russian cabinet resigned on Tuesday after Putin's glittering investiture in the Kremlin.
Andrei Kartapolov, head of the State Duma Defense Committee, told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti: “Since the president made this decision and the president, I want to remind you, is the commander in supreme leader. This means that today, precisely this person is needed as Minister of Defense.”
The announcement came as thousands more civilians have fled Russia's renewed ground offensive in northeastern Ukraine that has hit towns and villages with an artillery and mortar bombardment, officials said Sunday.
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Intense battles have forced at least one Ukrainian unit to retreat to the Kharkiv region, ceding more ground to Russian forces across less defended settlements in the so-called disputed gray zone along the Russian border.
By Sunday afternoon, the city of Vovchansk, one of the largest in the northeast with a pre-war population of 17,000, emerged as the focal point of the battle.
Volodymyr Tymoshko, Kharkiv's regional police chief, said Russian forces were on the outskirts of the city and approaching from three directions.
“The infantry fighting is already happening,” he said.
A Russian tank was spotted along a major road leading into the city, Tymoshko said, illustrating Moscow's confidence in deploying heavy weaponry.
An Associated Press team stationed in a nearby village saw plumes of smoke rising from the town as Russian forces fired shells. Evacuation crews worked non-stop throughout the day to get the residents, most of whom were older, out of harm's way.
At least 4,000 civilians have fled the Kharkiv region since Friday, when Moscow forces launched the operation, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said in a statement on social media. There was heavy fighting on the northeastern front on Sunday, where Russian forces attacked 27 settlements in the past 24 hours, he said.
Analysts say the Russian push is designed to exploit ammunition shortages before promised Western supplies can reach the front lines.
Ukrainian soldiers said the Kremlin is using the usual Russian tactic of launching a disproportionate amount of fire and infantry assaults to exhaust its troops and firepower. By intensifying fighting in what was once a static patch of the front line, Russian forces are threatening to hold back Ukrainian forces in the northeast, while waging intense battles further south, where Moscow is also gaining ground.
It comes after Russia stepped up attacks in March oriented to infrastructures and energy settlementswhich analysts predicted were a concerted effort to shape the conditions for an offensive.
Meanwhile, a 10-story apartment building partially collapsed in the Russian city of Belgorod near the border, killing at least eight people and injuring 20 others. Russian authorities said the building collapsed after shelling by Ukraine. Ukraine has not commented on the incident.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said stopping Russia's offensive in the northeast was a priority and that Kiev's troops were continuing counteroffensive operations in seven villages in the Kharkiv region.
“Disrupting Russian offensive intentions is our No. 1 task now. That we achieve this task depends on every soldier, every sergeant, every officer,” Zelenskyy said.
Russia's defense ministry said on Sunday that its forces had captured four villages along the border along Ukraine's Kharkiv region, in addition to five villages it said had been seized on Saturday. These areas were probably poorly fortified due to dynamic fighting and constant heavy bombardment, facilitating the Russian advance.
The leadership of Ukraine has not confirmed Moscow's gains. But Tymoshko said that Strilecha, Pylna and Borsivika were under Russian occupation, and that from their direction they were bringing infantry to make attacks on other besieged villages of Hlyboke and Lukiantsi.
Russian tactics in Vovchansk mirror those used in the battles for Bakhmut and Avdiivka in the Donetsk region, he said, in which heavy airstrikes were accompanied by infantry assaults.
“Now the Russians simply wipe it (Vovchansk) off the face of the earth and advance with the scorched earth method. That is, they burn a specific area first and then the infantry come in, and it always advances in this way.” . he said
A Ukrainian unit said they had been forced to withdraw in some areas and that Russian forces had captured at least one more village by Saturday afternoon.
In a video on Saturday evening, the Hostri Kartuzy unit, which is part of the special forces detachment of the National Guard of Ukraine, said they were fighting for control of the village of Hlyboke.
“Today, during the heavy fighting, our defenders were forced to retreat from some more of their positions, and today, another settlement has come under complete Russian control. As of 20:00, the fight for the people of Hlyboke is ongoing,” he added. the fighters said in the clip.
The Institute for the Study of War said on Saturday that it believed claims that Moscow had captured Strilecha, Pylna, Pletenivka and Borsivika were accurate, and that geolocated images also appeared to show that Russian forces have seized Morokhovets and Oliinykove. The Washington-based think tank described the recent Russian gains as “tactically significant.”
In the early days of the war, Russia made a failed attempt to storm Kharkiv, which is Ukraine's second largest city, but withdrew from its outskirts after about a month. In the autumn of 2022, seven months later, the Ukrainian army expelled them from Kharkiv. The bold counterattack helped persuade Western countries that Ukraine could defeat Russia on the battlefield and deserved military support.
