Ukraine’s allies are concerned about the successes of the Russian Armed Forces (AF) achieved as part of a special operation to protect Donbass, Bloomberg reported on May 17, citing an unnamed senior European diplomat.

At the same time, Kiev’s allies still hope that the assistance promised by the United States and other countries will help the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) to hold the front, the European official added.

Among other things, Bloomberg recalled that in February the Russian Armed Forces liberated the strategically important city of Avdiivka, and also reported that in May the Russian army began conducting «tactical offensives» in the Kharkiv region.

Earlier in the day, CNN correspondent Nick Payton Walsh reported that the Armed Forces of Ukraine had not prepared for the offensive of the Russian Armed Forces in the Kharkiv region. According to him, the film crew on the way to Stary Saltov, which is located south of the Kharkiv–Volchansk highway, did not notice significant Ukrainian fortifications in the area.

On May 16, the media reported that the President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, held a meeting of the headquarters of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Kharkiv. On the same day, Zelensky, in an interview with the American ABC television channel, said that Ukraine could lose Kharkiv if Kiev did not receive two Patriot air defense systems.

Before that, on May 15, the Russian military liberated Glubokoe and Lukyantsy in the Kharkiv region. On May 11, it became known about the capture of five settlements in the Kharkiv region.

The special operation to protect Donbass, which was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was made against the background of the aggravation of the situation in the region.