Russia launched a surprise ground offensive in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region on Friday, making small advances in a border area from which it was pushed back almost two years ago.
Civilians were asked to flee and heavy fighting was reported as the under-equipped Ukrainian army rushed in reinforcements to defend the region, which has been largely under Ukrainian control since September 2022.
“Russia launched a new wave of counter-offensives in this area. Ukraine responded with our troops, brigades and artillery… A fierce battle is now underway in this area,” the president said Volodymyr Zelensky during a press briefing.
A senior Ukrainian military source said Russia had advanced a kilometer into Ukraine and was trying to “create a buffer zone” in the Kharkiv and neighboring Sumy regions to prevent attacks on Russian territory.
If this advance is confirmed, it would be the largest land operation carried out by the Kremlin in this part of the battlefield since thousands of soldiers were sent across the border in February 2022.
Kiev officials have been warning for weeks that Moscow could try to attack its northeastern border regions, gaining an advantage as Ukraine grapples with delays in Western aid and a labor shortage. -work.
Ukraine’s military said it had stopped Russia in its tracks, but that “fighting of varying intensity” continued.
“Reserve units have been deployed to strengthen the defense in this area of the front,” the statement said.
Russia launched the attack around 5:00 a.m. (02:00 GMT), breaking through Ukrainian lines under the cover of armored vehicles, according to kyiv.
The Russian Defense Ministry provided no comment, but military bloggers reported that Moscow had made progress.
“Active fighting is currently taking place in settlements located one or two kilometers from the border with Russia. We call on people to evacuate this area,” regional governor Oleg Synegubov said.
– “Massive bombings” –
A local official said there had been “massive shelling” in Vovchansk, a town of about 3,000 people five kilometers from the Russian border, and that evacuations were underway there and in areas neighbors.
At least two people were killed in Russian bombings in the region on Friday, authorities said.
“Enemy shelling with various types of weapons has intensified in recent days in the northern Kharkiv region,” Synegubov wrote on Telegram.
“Evacuation routes have been developed since 2022, as well as a system for distributing humanitarian aid and temporary resettlement,” he said.
Vitaliy Ganchev, a Russian official for the Kharkiv region, confirmed that fighting was taking place near the border and urged civilians to take shelter.
“Fighting is raging on several parts of the contact line, including in the border areas of the Kharkiv region,” he said on Telegram.
“In this regard, I ask residents living in these areas to be careful and not to leave the shelters without urgent necessity,” he added.
Russia claimed to have captured at least two villages in the region this week, widening its advantage against undermanned and undermanned Ukrainian troops.
President Vladimir Putin warned in March that he was considering creating a “sanitary zone” on Ukrainian territory bordering Belgorod, a Russian region frequently targeted by Ukrainian bombing.
Ukrainian shelling of Russian border villages killed at least two people on Thursday, the governors of the Russian border regions of Belgorod and Kursk said.
Pro-Ukrainian militias also claimed earlier this year to have stormed the Russian border in a series of brazen raids, an embarrassment to the Kremlin.
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