Putin’s forces FAIL to take Kharkiv as heroic Ukrainians defend city
VLADIMIR Putin’s troops were given a painful black eye yesterday in their stumbling but deadly assault on Ukraine.
Elite Russian units surged into the country’s second city Kharkiv, where The Sun witnessed them being beaten back with tanks and rockets.
Panic had spread through the city’s 1.4million residents when officials ordered a lockdown at dawn.
The authorities confirmed that invading forces were inside the metropolis, which lies just 20 miles from the Russian border.
Russian units launched a pincer move into the city with convoys of Tiger armoured vehicles.
It came after all-night shelling by Grad rockets, tank shells and Smerch missiles had failed to crush Ukraine’s courageous forces.
Columns of lightly armoured Tiger 4x4s, used by Spetsnaz Special Forces, and soft skin army lorries then appeared to drive in unopposed — but deadly ambushes were lying in wait.
Residents were warned to stay indoors as Special Forces, soldiers, police and civil defence volunteers launched a counter-attack.
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The Sun drove through deserted backstreets to reach the scene of one ambush, less than three miles from the city centre.
Four Tigers with a tactical “Z” mark on their doors were left empty in the street. Ukrainian troops had sealed off the road and launched a manhunt to capture the Russian soldiers who leapt out and fled.
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The rear Tiger truck had been hit by a rocket and was covered in scorch marks from the inferno.
Another had bulletproof windows smashed by incoming fire.
All of them appeared to have had their tyres shot out, with the surrounding road littered with brass bullet cases, indicating signs of a ferocious firefight.
Analysts said the trucks may have stopped before they were ambushed because they were tightly packed together. Footage from the moments after the ambush showed Ukrainian soldiers unleashing a barrage of rocket- propelled grenades at retreating Russian forces.
When The Sun reached the scene shortly afterwards the soldiers had called up a tank to flush out the survivors.
A line of heavily armed troops — some with silencers on their rifles — crouched and sprinted to the ambush site as the tank rumbled into position.
Then it let out a deafening blast — sending our reporter diving to the snowy ground in terror.
Later Kharkiv’s mayor said dozens of Russian soldiers had surrendered and the city was fully back under the government’s control.
Oleh Synyehubov said: “Control over Kharkiv is completely ours. The armed forces, the police, and the defence forces are working, and the city is being completely cleansed of the enemy.”
He said the Russian soldiers had begged civilians for clothes in an attempt to assist their escape.
Some fear the lightly armoured Tigers may have been on a reconnaissance mission and a larger assault will come later.
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Pictures on social media showed dozens of Russian prisoners of war, amid reports they were underfed, demoralised and confused about their mission.
Officials refused to say if soldiers were killed or injured but The Sun counted at least three ambulances racing though the empty streets while firefights still raged.
Last night Kyiv’s mayor rubbished Russian propaganda that his city was “encircled” by Russian forces. News outlets had reported ex- heavyweight boxer Vitali Klitschko said there was no way out for civilians as Kyiv was surrounded.
But writing on the Telegram messaging app, he said: “Russian internet publications spread information with reference to me that Kyiv is allegedly surrounded and evacuation of people is impossible.
“Do not believe lies! Trust information only from official sources.”
'DO NOT BELIEVE LIES!'
The situation remains fluid but Putin had hoped to capture the capital in four days — however he has been left frustrated by his superpower forces’ failure to smash Ukraine’s ferocious resistance.
There are fears Putin will unleash hell to crush the city’s heroic defenders regardless of the civilian death toll.
Meanwhile, Russian saboteurs dressed as Ukrainian soldiers were apprehended by authorities in Kyiv.
Yesterday, footage emerged of brave unarmed civilians surrounding a Russian tank to stop it entering their village east of Kyiv.
In the central town of Dnipro grandmothers have joined forces to make thousands of Molotov Cocktails — dubbed babushka bombs — to throw at Russian invaders if they get that far.
However an oil terminal near Kyiv was blown up overnight on Saturday in a Russian missile attack.
The strike was confirmed by Ukraine’s Ministry of International Affairs and the town’s mayor. The missile attack hit one of ten oil storage tanks at the Vasylkiv terminal and the owner, KLO, confirmed all the fuel had been destroyed.
There were fears last night that Putin will order an aerial blitz of bombs and missiles to finally smash resistance in Kyiv — and allow him to install a puppet ruler.
Until last night, Russian troops had failed to take a major city with attacks on Kyiv, Kharkiv and the lifeline port of Mariupol all successfully fought off.
Yesterday’s repelled assault on Kharkiv was the city’s second victory after it stopped a tank attack on Thursday.
Soldiers told The Sun that a column of five tanks had approached the city limits. Three were blasted with rockets including British NLAW anti-tank weapons and American Javelins in the first armoured conflict of the war.
But it has not stopped the artillery bombardments which have forced families including the elderly and babies to sleep in underground stations as air raid sirens wail.
Ukraine was also celebrating a successful ambush on a Russian convoy in Bucha on the outskirts of the capital Kyiv yesterday.
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Footage appeared to show at least five armoured fighting vehicles blasted to bits and set on fire. Ukraine’s armed forces destroyed a bridge to slow the Russian advance.
The Army claimed it blitzed at least ten tanks in a separate attack
Boris: We can't shut out horror
BORIS Johnson said we in Britain “cannot shut our eyes” to the horrors of Putin’s invasion as he gave a heartfelt sermon at London’s Ukrainian Cathedral.
The PM told the congregation last night that the war has sparked the “darkest times in modern memory”.
He told worshippers that, although he was not a great preacher, he recalled a gospel story which taught us exactly what we must do when our neighbours came under attack.
He said: “I mean, of course, the story of the man who fell among thieves on the way to Jericho and was left for dead.
“We in the UK cannot shut our eyes and pass by on the other side.”