(24 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Undisclosed location – 24 May 2024
1. Various of reporters and officials in briefing room
2. Ukrainian officials seated
3. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Ihor Prokhorenko, representative of the Main Operational Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU):
“As for the Kharkiv direction, you already know that since May 10, the enemy has been conducting an offensive operation to create a buffer zone in the Kharkiv region. Today the situation there is stable and under control. The enemy has been stopped. Fire is being applied to it, and the defence forces are planning and conducting offensive assault operations to restore the lost position.”
4. Mid of officials
5. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Ihor Prokhorenko, representative of the Main Operational Department of the General Staff of the AFU:
“The enemy is conducting offensive assault operations west of Bakhmut and south of Bakhmut. This is in our area of Chasovyi Yar. They are also trying to break through our defence here, reach the eastern outskirts of Chasiv Yar and gain a foothold along the Siverskyi Donets River, along the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas Canal. Today, I repeat, heavy fighting continues, and the enemy is not successful in this area. As for the area south of Bakhmut, in the vicinity of Andriivka and Klishchiyivka, where we conducted offensive operations last year, we were successful and regained the lost ground in these areas. Today, the enemy is trying to regain the lost ground in these areas, but is not succeeding.“
6. Mid of officials
7. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Ihor Prokhorenko, representative of the Main Operational Department of the General Staff of the AFU:
“As for the Sumy direction, we have built a very effective defence there today, taking into account all the miscalculations that occurred in the Kharkiv direction. We have enough forces and means to deter the enemy if it starts its offensive in this direction.”
8. Officials and media leaving
STORYLINE:
Ukrainian troops have "stopped" Russian advances to the north of Kharkiv region and are conducting counter-offensive actions, Ukraine’s General Staff officials said on Friday.
"The enemy has been stopped. Fire is being applied to it, and the defence forces are planning and conducting offensive assault operations to restore the lost position,” said Ihor Prokhorenko, a representative of the Main Operational Directorate of Ukraine’s General Staff.
Authorities have evacuated more than 11,000 people from the Kharkiv region since Russia launched an offensive there on May 10, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said.
Officials on Friday announced the mandatory evacuation over the next 60 days of 123 orphans and children living without their parents in the area.
Russia’s Kharkiv push appears to be a coordinated new offensive that includes testing Ukrainian defences in the Donetsk region further south, while also launching incursions in the northern Sumy and Chernihiv regions.
"We have enough forces and means to deter the enemy if it starts its offensive in this direction," Prokhorenko said.
Ukraine’s problems have been mounting in recent months as it tries to hold out against its much bigger foe, and the war appears to be at a critical juncture.
The new Russian offensive is stretching thin Ukraine’s depleted ranks, exhausted by more than two years of war.
AP video shot by: Alex Babenko
===========================================================
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/e6bef65fbe404454b945454a621e37db
