CNN
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The Russian army claimed to have captured five villages in the Kharkiv region, on the border with Ukraine, in a new offensive, while Ukrainian authorities said they were repelling the attacks and that “the fighting continues.”
Russia launched its surprise cross-border attack on Friday, launching two assaults in northern Ukraine, in what President Volodymyr Zelensky called Russia’s “new wave of counter-offensive actions.”
The precise objective is unclear, but Moscow could attempt to create a buffer zone to reduce Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory or attempt to exhaust and divert the attention of kyiv’s already strained forces.
In a statement, Russia’s Defense Ministry said a new military group called Sever (North) had “liberated” several villages, wording that reflects Russia’s denial of Ukrainian statehood.
“As a result of the offensive operations, units of the Sever group of forces liberated Borisovka, Ogurtsovo, Pletenevka, Pylnaya and Strelechya,” the statement said, adding that Russian troops also took the village of Keramik in the Donetsk region. more to the south.
Ukrainian forces, meanwhile, said they were continuing their efforts to repel intensifying Russian attacks while hundreds of Ukrainian civilians were evacuated from the northern Kharkiv region.
Ukraine’s Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, disputed in a statement Saturday that the five villages in the Kharkiv region had been captured.
“Heavy fighting continues in Strilecha, Pylyna, Borysivka, Oliynykove region and Ohirtseve. Fighting continues in the area of settlements which were actually in the “gray zone” (…) There is no threat of ground operation for Kharkiv. The Defense Forces are doing all they can to maintain their positions. All government agencies are working on the ground,” Syniehubov said.
The gray zone represents territory currently contested rather than under full control of Russia or Ukraine.
At least three people died following Russian strikes on the Kharkiv region overnight, according to the head of the region’s military administration.
Russia’s recent efforts have largely focused on the east, where it has taken advantage of Ukraine’s shortage of labor and weapons to make slight progress. Its forces attacked the Kharkiv region after the full-scale invasion began in 2022, but were forced to withdraw during a Ukrainian counter-offensive later that year.
Separately, a fire briefly broke out at the Volgograd refinery, the largest oil refinery in southern Russia, after a Ukrainian drone attack on Sunday night, according to the region’s governor.
“On the night of May 12, air defense and electronic warfare forces repelled a drone attack on the territory of the Volgograd region,” Andrei Bocharov said in a message on Telegram.
“Due to the consequences of the drone crash followed by a detonation, a fire broke out at the Volgograd refinery site,” he said.
The fire was extinguished and there were no casualties, he said.
News Source : amp.cnn.com
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