Russia has launched a ground offensive in the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine, where fighting is ongoing, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry and a military source said on Friday.
Ukraine managed to repel Russian forces in most of the Kharkiv region in late 2022, but Moscow is now back on the attack as Kiev’s troops struggle with ammunition shortages.
“At around 5:00 (3:00 in Lisbon), the enemy tried to break through our defense line under the cover of armored vehicles”, announced the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, which reported that Ukrainian forces repelled the incursion of Russia but that “fighting of varying intensity” was ongoing and that Russia launched airstrikes in an area close to the border.
The Ministry also announced that it sent military reinforcements to the Kharkiv region.
A Ukrainian military source said Russia had advanced “one kilometer” into Ukraine and was trying to “create a buffer zone” to prevent attacks on Russian territory.
Vitaliy Ganchev, a Russian-installed official in the Kharkiv region, said on Telegram that there was “fighting in various parts of the contact line, including in the border areas.” “In this regard, I ask residents living in these areas to be careful and not leave the shelters without urgent need,” he appealed.
Ukrainian civilians in the city of Vovchansk and neighboring towns in the Kharkiv region are being displaced to other areas due to intensified Russian bombing, a local official said. “The whole city is under massive shelling now, it is not safe to stay here,” the head of the Vovchansk administration, Tamaz Hambarishvili, told Ukrainian radio Hromadske.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it captured at least two villages in the region this week, pressing its advantage as Ukraine is outgunned and outmanned on the battlefield.
