Kharkiv fighting 'hotter than Bakhmut' as Ukraine gains shells, destroys Russian missile ship

On the night of May 19, Ukrainian forces struck what they say was the last Russian warship equipped with cruise missiles in Crimean waters—a Tsiklon-class vessel anchored in Sevastopol. The military announced the hit, though Reuters could not independently confirm the claim, and Moscow offered no immediate response. The strike, if verified, would mark a significant loss for Russian naval capability in the Black Sea. But the more immediate story playing out along Ukraine's northeastern frontier tells a different kind of tale: one of grinding, relentless combat where ammunition, finally, has begun to arrive.

In the Kharkiv region near Vovchansk, Ukrainian soldiers are experiencing something they did not have during the long, grinding battle for Bakhmut. Pavlo, a gunner operating a howitzer with Ukraine's 92nd Separate Assault brigade, described the current fighting to Reuters in stark terms. The intensity is higher than what he witnessed around the fallen city—a place that became synonymous with attrition and exhaustion. Russian infantry attacks come without pause, he said. Twenty-four hours a day, waves of soldiers press forward. Ukrainian forces respond when they can, taking down attackers where possible. The crucial difference, Pavlo emphasized, is supply. During the Bakhmut phase, shells were scarce. Now they are arriving. "We have something to work with, to fight," he said. That shift—from ammunition scarcity to adequacy—has changed the calculus of survival on the line.

The broader picture remains precarious. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy acknowledged that his forces are achieving tangible results against Russian positions in the Kharkiv region, but he was careful to note that the situation near Pokrovsk, Kramatorsk, and Kurakhove remains extremely difficult. The human toll is mounting. More than 14,000 people have been displaced from the Kharkiv region in recent days alone, according to the World Health Organization. That number sits atop a larger, more ominous figure: nearly 189,000 people still live within 25 kilometers of the Russian border, facing what WHO representative Jarno Habicht called significant risks from the ongoing fighting. They remain in the path of potential Russian advances.

Russia's military posture has shifted as well. Vladimir Putin ordered tactical nuclear weapons drills near Ukrainian territory, a move that came after French President Emmanuel Macron suggested the possibility of deploying European troops to Ukraine and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron stated that Ukraine had the right to use British-supplied weapons to strike targets inside Russia. The drills are a signal—a demonstration of capability and resolve, or perhaps a warning. Meanwhile, in a sign of internal friction within Russian command, Ivan Popov, the former commander of Russia's 58th army and a figure known by the military call sign "Spartacus," was arrested on suspicion of large-scale fraud. Popov had been vocal about the deaths of Russian soldiers under his command and had criticized his superiors. His detention suggests tensions within the Russian military hierarchy over conduct and accountability.

On the financial front, the European Union has formally adopted a mechanism to convert frozen Russian assets into military aid for Ukraine. The EU holds approximately $300 billion in Russian central bank assets. Under the new arrangement, 90 percent of the profits generated by those assets will flow into an EU-administered fund dedicated to military support for Ukraine, with the remaining 10 percent directed toward other forms of assistance to Ukrainian civilians and institutions. The EU projects that these frozen assets will generate between €15 billion and €20 billion in profits by 2027, with the first tranche expected to reach Ukraine in July. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba welcomed the decision but made clear that his government's preference remains the outright seizure of the assets themselves, not merely the interest they generate. Across the Atlantic, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is working to persuade fellow G7 nations to back a separate proposal: using frozen Russian assets as collateral for a loan package worth up to $50 billion to Ukraine.

Inside Ukraine, a different kind of mobilization is underway. A new law allowing prisoners to volunteer for military service has drawn more than 3,000 applications in its initial phase. Deputy Justice Minister Olena Vysotska noted that the response exceeded expectations, with additional prisoners expressing interest and roughly 20,000 identified as eligible under the law's criteria. Only inmates with fewer than three years remaining on their sentences can apply. Those convicted of sexual violence, multiple homicides, serious corruption, or who held high government office are barred from service. The program represents a calculation about manpower and desperation—a recognition that the war requires bodies and that some portion of Ukraine's prison population may be willing to exchange confinement for combat.

Meanwhile, Russian drone strikes continued their assault on Ukrainian infrastructure. Early Wednesday, drones targeted energy facilities in the Sumy region, north of Kyiv and near the Russian border, hitting the cities of Shostka and Konotop and cutting power to parts of the region. Emergency services worked to restore electricity as officials warned of the possibility that Russia might attempt a ground offensive into Sumy. The pattern is familiar: strike the infrastructure, disrupt civilian life, probe for weaknesses in the defensive line. On day 819 of the war, the fighting has not slowed. It has only changed shape.