The AFU launched a counteroffensive in the Izium and Kharkiv directions.

The biggest battles in the Izium direction take place near Barvinkovo.

The Ukrainian military has launched a counteroffensive in the Kharkiv and Izium directions, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny said on Thursday, May 5, in a conversation with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Millie.

“Traditionally, he informed his American counterpart about the operational situation. In particular, the relocation of the enemy’s main efforts to the Luhansk direction, where fierce fighting continues in the Popasna, Kreminna and Torsky areas, as well as the transition of Ukraine’s defense forces to counter-offensive operations in Kharkiv and Izyum,” – Zaluzhny wrote on Facebook, without elaborating.

At the same time, in the same conversation, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine focused on the resumption of massive missile strikes by russians on Ukraine. According to him, during the day on May 3, the enemy used 14 cruise missiles fired from TU-160 strategic bombers from the Caspian Sea. As of 00:00 last night, 8 launches of cruise missiles on the territory of Ukraine were recorded. “Therefore, the issue of providing Ukraine with M142 HIMARS and M270 MLRS volley fire systems is very important,”-  Zaluzhny stressed.

We will remind, during full-scale war russians killed more than 500 civilians in the Kharkiv region. This number is growing every day, as shelling of the region takes place daily.

Earlier, the Ukrainian army liberated the strategically important village of Ruska Lozova from the russians, from which the invaders fired on residential areas of Kharkiv. However, the head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, Oleg Sinegubov, stressed that despite the russians being pushed out of the city to the north, they continue to terrorize civilians. According to Sinegubov, these strikes are not targeted, the occupiers are hitting residential areas, thereby harming civilians. The projectile can “fly” to any area, to any yard, to any playground. Therefore the chairman of area urged Kharkiv residents not to be on the street without urgent need.

At the same time, the Izium direction is currently the hottest – there the invaders are constantly trying to attack the positions of the Armed Forces, in particular, near the town of Barvinkove, but suffers significant losses.

According to https://zaxid.net