the offensive of the russians in the kharkiv region was stopped, the ukrainian military says . let's try to understand today's issue of bbc ukraine, i'm olga polomaryuk. a week since the beginning of the russian offensive on the kharkiv region. during this time , the situation changed very dynamically, from extremely difficult to, as they say, stabilized. and here are these advances on the map, according to the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of ukraine oleksandr syrskyi, in a week russian troops expanded the front by almost 70 km however, president volodymyr zele said that

the situation had been stabilized and that russian troops had not reached the concrete defense line. so, approximately 30,000 russian troops are participating in the offensive on kharkiv region, the deepest advance is 10 km, and their goal is now the city of vovchansk, zelenskyi said. but even with such a large number of troops , it will not be possible to achieve a strategic breakthrough on russia's front line, according to chris, the supreme commander-in-chief of nato in europe. the russians don't have enough numbers for a strategic breakthrough, we don't believe that, moreover, they do not have the skills and capacity to do so, to operate on the scale necessary to exploit any breakthrough to gain a strategic advantage, they are capable of achieving local successes, and they have already succeeded in some of these, they have also suffered some local losses. this is a video from the kharkiv region, earlier. the spectators said that with this

offensive the russians are trying to draw the reserves of the ukrainian army away from other areas of the front, well, during his visit to china , vladimir putin stated that the goal of the offensive was to create, as he says, a sanitary zone, well bbc correspondent jonathan beale is currently in kharkiv oblast, and here's what he says about the situation there. i spoke with representatives of the local authorities here and there is an opinion that russia had a plan, in particular to seize this city - kharkiv. russian president vladimir putin has talked about the creation of a kind of buffer zone between russia and ukraine to prevent ukrainian strikes on russian territory, and according to him, this is what this operation is focused on. he says that his forces are advancing every day , and ukraine claims that ukrainian forces are slowly stabilizing the front line. the commander-in-chief of the ukrainian army admits that russian troops are expanding their offensive.

operations, there will be tough battles ahead. ukraine believes that the russians may launch another offensive in sumy oblast, if they do, it will further stretch the limited resources of the ukrainian military and make life very difficult for them. it is known that the ukrainian authorities evacuated some villages in the sumy oblast near the border with russia. the ukrainian military believes that russian troops may launch an offensive there as well, but most military analysts believe that russia is still... focused on the east and that its goal is to capture the entire donbas, the russians want to capture the strategically important city of yar, through which the ukrainian forces defending this region replenish their supplies, but if the russians start a new offensive on another part of the front , then the ukrainian troops will need to disperse their forces, and this will lead to the fact that certain areas of the front, stretched for more than 1000 km, can be... so what is this

sanitary zone and is putin's goal to push the ukrainian army away from border, is the offensive there a tactical success or the beginning of a larger offensive? this is what british analyst alexander lord thinks about it. i think there are several potential targets for this russian operation, but that's all we can say right now. it is unlikely that the russians will start an operation to encircle kharkiv, ukraine's second largest... they do not have the opportunity for this now. the scale of the attacks was more or less small, although there were some successes, but this is not a large-scale maneuver operation. ukrainians are already on strategic defense. russian troops continue to actively advance in donbas, in particular west of avdiivka and bakhmut. the opening of a new front puts pressure on the already stretched ukrainian defense line. commander-in-chief of the ukrainian forces, general.

confirmed that they have deployed additional reserves along that stretch of the front, so the russians are definitely trying to create an opportunity for a further front line breakthrough somewhere, and while we're not looking at... a major breakthrough north of kharkiv, they may be concentrating on operations further south where the russians are trying to capture the donetsk region, while western countries can compensate for the lack of artillery, air defense and armored vehicles for ukraine, the only thing they cannot provide is manpower, which is exactly what the ukrainians lack. i think that this russian offensive is aimed at exploiting this vulnerability for as long as possible and ... expanding the window of opportunity that the russians currently have before western aid starts to really make a difference on the battlefield. yes, this was the opinion of a british analyst, but what threats for the entire front , what are the risks of the russian advance? my colleagues asked

oleksiy melnyk, a military observer of the razunkov center, about this. since the situation still remains dynamic, there are great risks that depending on... how the events of the next few days will develop, there may be, well, let's say, even strategic consequences, primarily unfavorable for ukraine. in this case, if russia is able to break through the front line, advance further than the defensive lines that reportedly exist there are ukrainian defense lines, then it is not excluded. the risk that they will try to develop a direction there, even if it was not intended. and another risk that i also see is that, as many say, this success of the russians was to a large extent due

to the fact that ukraine is subject to political restrictions on the use of long-range western -made weapons on the territory of the russian federation. and this allows the russians to accumulate personnel and material resources in the immediate vicinity of the contact line, which in this case, there is a state border, that is, such a scenario is not excluded, that they have such a positive experience for them, it is not excluded that they will want to repeat it in other places, well , first of all, in the sumy region, which was also talked about by the head, the head of the intelligence department of ukraine . if this tactic worked in one place, then there is a temptation to repeat it in other places, so right now sumyshchyna is primarily under threat, and

besides, the chernihiv region, because this northern border is all that happened there, it was quite similar to border chernihiv, sumy, and kharkiv regions, that is, there is a certain concentration of russian forces there, and they may very well maneuver, try to repeat this experience, there are signs that there are small contingents there, not that they are not enough for a serious breakthrough, but they are there there is, and plus these movements, in this case movement along. the state border on the territory of russia is more difficult to trace than if it happened on the occupied territories of ukraine. western military observers say that due to how the situation in kharkiv oblast will unfold further depends on the front as a whole. a former

vice-marshal of the british royal air force and now a military analyst , schonbell shared his thoughts on the bbc. watching how this war. is collapsing in donbas, as the war of attrition is going on there, the west and zelenskyi will be worried because it looks like a kind of second front is opening in the northeast of kharkiv. and of course, that is why zelenskyi should be ready to mobilize his reserves if this offensive is in the vovchansk region will advance further. for several months now, ukraine has known that russia is building up troops in the area. the problem is that because of the fact that the united states and great britain, and now only the united states. do not allow ukraine to use western weapons on russian territory, ukraine could do little to help this. the key question is whether this second front is actually a serious offensive or just a tactical operation? it seems that there may be two reasons behind this: the most dangerous is that

russia has decided to go to kyiv, and kharkiv could to be a stepping stone for them on this path. it can be extremely dangerous, but it seems very little to him. true: that russia has enough people, ammunition and shells for this. most likely, we have been talking about it for several months, it is through the city of belgorod in russia, it is 20 km from... the russian-ukrainian border within the range of artillery. ukraine regularly shelled it. belgorod was a kind of military logistics center for the russians. president putin has long said that he is going to create a buffer zone around. in other words, push ukrainian forces away from artillery range to provide better protection for belgorod. and it appears that this is a tactical operation to achieve that goal, and an attempt to do so. kharkiv itself is within reach of russian artillery within a radius of approximately 25 km, and at the moment,

according to military estimates, it seems that the russians do not seek to gain further military advantage from the current situation. this is more like a consolidation to protect bielgorod and create threats to kharkiv. therefore, ukrainian forces are strengthening the defense lines on kharkiv oblast, in kharkiv oblast, as the ukrainian authorities say, the situation has been stabilized, and what was happening there at... at the beginning of the week, how the evacuation unfolded due to the russian offensive, bbc correspondent jonathan beale saw. ukrainians put up some resistance when russian troops crossed the border. the footage shows how ukrainian border guards are trying to stop the advance of the russians, but others have passed without resistance, and russia has captured more than a hundred square kilometers of ukrainian territory in a matter of days. territories now russian troops have entered vovchansk. on this

video taken from drones shows a fierce battle for the city. even the ukrainian top command admits that the situation is critical and tense. this is one of the reasons why they limit access to the front. hundreds of people who live near the hostilities take everything they can and leave. although local authorities are trying to dispel panic. no, they were not surprised by this attack, but there was no understanding in which place exactly they would do it, they knew that some kind of offensive was expected, in which place they were trying to probe our ranks, where there was a gap. according to him, the situation stabilized, but valentina does not feel this, she had to be saved. yana packed

her things even before the russian offensive. we were prepared because all the warnings were clear that this could happen. do you think the ukrainian army was ready? i do not think so. this is what the russians left behind when they were first here in 2022. the village is completely destroyed and devastated. and just a few kilometers from here, the russians are doing the same thing again. during a new offensive. kharkiv is a city where thousands of people seek refuge, but it is not far from the russian one border many people here have already...lived the occupation, then the liberation, and they have to go through this trauma again. well

, jonathan biel's report, look for it on our website, also bbc.ua, read it, he spent this whole week in kharkiv region, so there is a lot of analysis and details. so, russian. khorony says about 12 captured settlements in kharkiv oblast in a week. ukraine does not confirm this, but talks about expanding the front by 70 km. the military and political leadership agrees. the situation there is difficult, but stabilized. we will follow the developments and we will definitely talk about everything in our next programs. well, that's all for today, more stories, as always, on... our website bbc.ua, also on our social media pages, and we'll be back on the air tomorrow,

monday at 9 p.m., all the best. greetings, friends, on the air of the tv channel, the second part of the program in... verdict today we have a journalism club, and today we will talk about this: critical hours ahead, robert... fico is in a serious condition after the attempt, as the incapacity of the slovak prem era can affect politics slovakia in relation to ukraine. reorganization in the government. kamyshchin may become the new minister of infrastructure instead of kubrakov. is the practice of reformatting ministries under

ministers justified? pressure on journalists. ukrainian truth received threats after. publication of an investigation into the foreign travels of kyiv's wealthy. what will be the reaction of the authorities? we will talk about this and other things in the next 45 minutes. let me remind you that we work live on the tv channel, as well as on our youtube and facebook platforms. for those who are now watch us live there, please subscribe to our pages, take part in our survey. today we ask you about whether the uocmp threatens national security. of ukraine? yes, no, everything is quite simple on youtube, if you have your own, please leave it in the comments below this video. if you're watching us on tv, pick up your smartphone or phone and vote. if you believe that the national security of ukraine is threatened by pcmp. 0800-211-381, no, 0800-211-382. all calls

to these numbers are free, vote. at the end of the program, we will sum up the results of this vote. i would like to introduce today's guest of our studio, this is larisa voloshina, journalist, political psychologist. mrs. larisa, i congratulate you, thank you for being with us today. good evening, let's go. and tetyana vysotska, our correspondent, correspondent of the tv channel in european structures. mrs. tatiana, i congratulate you, thank you for being with us today. i congratulate serhiy, i congratulate you, actually from the sidelines of the council of europe, where the meeting of the committee of ministers was held today, i am still here, still. thank you, then, larisa and tatiana, since we are asking our tv viewers whether the uocmp threatens the national security of ukraine, let's take the format of a blitz poll and talk with you about this topic, what do you think about it, larisa, you have the floor. i think that it is, and we are talking about, here we must

still distinguish between priests, the congregation and the leadership of the church, because we see that there is a greater... number of priests, they basically have a pro-ukrainian position, they serve, they have them mission, recently our colleague dmytro krapivka described a very interesting, interesting incident when he went to the temple somewhere in the east, where he is now fighting, and the priest there fortified him with water, he says, well, the moscow patriarchate says, go and fight the enemy, crossed him and sent him away. that is, there is, well, we say that there are congregations, there are priests, and that is one thing, but if we talk about the structure, then it still has, has coordination with the russian orthodox church, we see that until recently there were traitors in the holy synod, there were people who in the occupied crimea are already clearly representatives of the russian

orthodox church, that is, the russian orthodox church, and therefore i think that as a structure this church in ukraine very... very harmful. thank you, larisa. tatyana, what do you think about the threats posed by the uoc-mp to the national security of ukraine? i agree with my colleague that this structure really poses a threat to ukraine directly, and i want to refer, for example, to one of the latest resolutions of the european parliament, which just raised the issue of the fact that in the pcmp, the russian church is in fact a relay of invading aggressive ideas. ideas of aggressive russia, and it should be considered as an accomplice of putin's crimes, and in fact, even european parliamentarians called the european union until the ban of the moscow church on the territory of their states, and actually yes, it is no longer a church, it is an institution that works for the russian state apparatus, we are not talking about some

religious structure, we are talking about a propagandist sect, if we could say, well... part of the big repressive machine, the aggressive machine that is the putin regime, because on may 7, when the so -called president putin was inaugurated, we saw kirill gundyaev trying to bless putin for the ages, i would say, until the end century or whatever he said, for many ages, he said, that is, until the end of the age, but let's talk about... now the questions are those that concern, in particular, journalists and the information field, because we will start with the decision of the council of the european union, today the council decided. to suspend the broadcasting of four more media in the european union, which spread russian propaganda and support an aggressive war against ukraine, this is the voice of europe, riya novosti, izvestya and rosiyskaya

gazeta, the europeans are doing the right thing, but i have a question next to by russian propagandists, whether there is a ukrainian propaganda machine in the good sense of the word, an information field that allows ukraine to rebroadcast. or to explain to europeans what is happening in ukraine so that europeans do not watch russian propaganda channels, or these propaganda channels do not shape their opinion. well, forgive larisa, let's start with tatyana, since she is in european structures, i think that first of all, what does this decision actually mean and are we present there? actually, this decision was expected, because, if we talk, for example, about voice of europe, then this... publication, this online publication, which was financed, by the way, by ex-ukrainian oligarch medvedchuk, and it has been at the center of a scandal for several months, because in addition, that this

publication spread russian propaganda, there are still not groundless, if not grounds, not groundless premises to say that it was through this publication that russia financed european influencers, european... politicians and even transferred funds to some members of the european parliament, and regarding of this, the investigation is still ongoing in belgium, and let's hope that there will be results before the european elections, and regarding the ban of these four publications, i want to say for now that they are not allowed to rebroadcast their news on the territory of the european union, but for now their journalists can still work in the eu, they can conduct surveys, they can do interviews, and actually... the european union is now going to stop that too, because these four publications will most likely be part of the next 14th package sanctions against the russian federation, which will

most likely be approved at the end of june, that is, very soon these russian propagandists on the territory of the eu will still be silenced, and as for ukraine, of course ukraine is not present as we would like, there are still a large, large, large space for... the work of the ukrainian authorities so that the ukrainian voice is heard more powerfully, more loudly, as, for example, it is done by russia, which finances and supports everyone who can somehow help it in advancing its information agenda in helping russian propagandists, so if so, it would be good for europe if ukraine still strengthened its voice here through... ukrainian media through better cooperation with european media, there is a lot of room for growth. thank you tetyana, larisa, but what prevents ukraine from creating such a large

propaganda machine, let's be objective, there is no such large propaganda machine, there is a single telethon, there is a house, there is freedom, i am already confused in all these channels, but the main thing is, that we do not have a foreign language, unfortunately, there is no foreign language, you are right, serhiy. it was dismantled and just in its place and this house or freedom or both together, this is a big mistake in my opinion, but it seems to me that the media itself is not enough, because if we look at what russia has been doing, how it spreads its influence , by the way, how the united states spread influence and generally established this interest in prices. humanistic towards freedoms and everything else, it is not only the work of the media, it is the creation of sentenki, it is the search for those loyal to ukraine and

the ukrainian position of authorities, such as timothy snyder, there are already many of them, there is the same kurt walker, there are many people who are important, whose opinion is philosophers... whose opinion is important for the western consumer of information and who will say it better than us , we don't do it, we don't work with them, we are more reactive here than proactive, and it's a shame, because basically, this is all ukrainian lobby abroad, it is created exclusively on a volunteer basis, and it shouldn't be like that, we have to understand, it's basically like this, you know on the border of intelligence... activities and in principle some kind of strategic research, strategic science, where we have to understand where our enemies are, with whom they

work, with whom they cooperate. where is a good russian, what do they do, who do they influence, we should have just such an institute for the study of all this, where people who, for example, are capable of being our partners, what they are interested in, which platforms they can be invited to as speakers, in order to establish contacts in this way, that is, this work is institutional, and we always, when we enter, we, you know, put on the tv channel, dismantle the tv. channel, turn on the marathon, turn off the marathon, this is not work, it is done by the countries that are under the influence, those countries that set their own agenda, that are subjects in world politics, they still work for years, decades, and maybe even for a century, but we don't bet on a century ahead. tatyana, how

are they represented in european structures, how are russians represented, and that is, if we compare ukrainian journalists, russian journalists, it is clear that there are probably more russians than ukrainians, but i will say that no, there are more ukrainians than russians for one simple reason, that european institutions have already banned russian media from being accredited for major events, and there are no russian media here or in not a single russian journalist was present at the council of europe, for example, today, nor when... the meetings of the european parliament are held, nor when the meetings of the european council are held, and so on, but the problem is precisely that pro-russian journalists still get here through others, if there are loopholes, they cooperate with other european publications, or the same voice of europe, which just really causes me a lot of emotions, because the russians simply took it, registered a website on the territory of the czech republic, called it the voice

of europe. and through this website were accredited to all european institutions, had access to communication with all european politicians and thus if they were to promote russian information policy among european decision-makers, let's say, and er, that is, now, if i say so, journalists russian television there, i will not meet any european politician at the press conference, but the fact that there are people standing nearby... who are possibly being paid by russia, that is indisputable. larisa and tetiana, well, obviously, without solving and discussing those issues that exist in the journalistic environment inside ukraine, it is difficult to predict the expansion of ukrainian journalism abroad, and even more so, the use of journalists in the role of propagandists, who in the good sense of the word, that is, not russian, not according to russian

models, but according to ukrainian ones, obviously. nothing won't work either, but we are now witnessing how unknown people are threatening mykhailo tkach, a journalist investigating the ukrainian truth, who wrote to whom they are writing on behalf of businessman oleksandr slobozhenko, and he was the main character of a recent investigation about unsuitable rich people from kyiv vacationing abroad under during the war, as removed from the military register, the law enforcement officers have already declared that they are crimeans. no wonder they will now investigate who is sinking the weaver. tkach himself says that he is a victim of 12 similar criminal cases, so he does not count on the results of the official investigation, but will monitor the progress of the case. let's hear what tkach said? we do not fully understand, it is clear who did it for what, someone tried to take advantage of the situation, whether it is really mr. svobozhenko.

is concerned that there, in particular, we can continue to investigate there, for example, the question of his business, taxes, income and other things, and therefore we do not have answers to this question, what can be actions, also we will be able to get acquainted in a legal way, since i also have the status of a victim in this case, that is, i can familiarize myself with the materials of this case, see what work is being done. larys, we have seen that over the past five years, well, it will be may 20, five years since the inauguration of president zelenskyi, we see how during this entire period the president selectively communicates with ukrainian journalists, or representatives of the president's office there reproach journalists or?