section_path: Events/Southeastern front (8 April – 5 September 2022)
section_name: Southeastern front (8 April – 5 September 2022)
paragraph_text: Southeastern front (8 April – 5 September 2022)
  
  By 17 April, Russian progress on the southeastern front appeared impeded by Ukrainian forces in the large, heavily fortified Azovstal Iron and Steel Works and surrounding area in Mariupol. On 19 April Russia launched an "eastern assault" across a 480-kilometre (300 mi) front extending from Kharkiv to Donetsk and Luhansk, with simultaneous missile attacks again directed at Kyiv and Lviv. An anonymous US Defence official called the Russian offensive "very tepid", "minimal at best", and "anaemic".
  
  By 30 May, disparities between Russian and Ukrainian artillery were apparent, with Ukrainian artillery vastly outgunned, in range and number. In response to Biden's indication that enhanced artillery would be provided to Ukraine, Putin said Russia would expand its invasion to include new cities. In apparent retribution, Putin ordered a missile strike against Kyiv on 6 June after not directly attacking it for weeks. On 10 June, deputy head of the SBU Vadym Skibitsky stated that during the Sievierodonetsk campaign, the frontlines were where the future of the invasion would be decided:
  
  This is an artillery war now, and we are losing in terms of artillery. Everything now depends on what gives us. Ukraine has one artillery piece to 10 to 15 Russian artillery pieces. Our western partners have given us about 10% of what they have.
  
  On 29 June, US Intelligence Director Avril Haines said US agencies agreed the invasion will continue "for an extended period of time... In short, the picture remains pretty grim and Russia's attitude toward the West is hardening." On 5 July, BBC reported that extensive destruction by the invasion would cause immense financial damage to Ukraine's economy, with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal telling nations at a reconstruction conference that Ukraine needed $750B for a recovery plan and Russian oligarchs should contribute.
  
  The chief spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defence Igor Konashenkov revealed that Russian troops were divided between the Army Groups "Centre" commanded by Colonel General Aleksander Lapin and "South" commanded by Army General Sergey Surovikin. On 20 July, Lavrov announced that Russia would respond to the increased military aid being received by Ukraine from abroad as justifying the expansion of its special military operation to Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts. Russian Ground Forces started recruiting volunteer battalions from the regions in June to create a new 3rd Army Corps within the Western Military District, with a planned strength of 16,000–60,000 personnel. Its units were deployed to the front around the September Kharkiv counteroffensive, in time to join the Russian retreat. The 3rd Army "melted away" according to Forbes, having little impact on the battlefield along with other irregular forces.