Russia launched a ground offensive in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine on Friday and tried to “break through the defense lines”, Ukraine’s Defense Minister announced, saying fighting was continuing. .
This area had not been the target of such attacks since the withdrawal of Kremlin troops from almost the entire Kharkiv region, in the face of a Ukrainian counter-offensive in the fall of 2022.
Over the past day, the enemy carried out air strikes in the Vovchansk sector, bordering the Russian region of Belgorod, with guided aerial bombs, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said.
Around 5:00 a.m., the enemy tried to break through our defense lines using armored vehicles, added the same source, without clarifying the exact location of this attack.
The minister assured that these attacks had been repelled but that fighting of varying intensity continued and that reserve units had been deployed to strengthen the defense of the area.
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a fierce battle is still underway there.
“Russia has launched a new wave of counter-offensive actions in this direction,” he said at a press conference, while assuring that his general staff knew this and had responded to the enemy with fire .
One civilian was killed and five others injured in Vovchansk during strikes during the morning, the regional governor said, adding that another civilian was killed during an strike in the town of Cherkaski Tychky, north of Kharkiv.
Zone tampon
Located in the northeast of Ukraine, the region, whose capital is Kharkiv, the country’s second city, remains a major objective for the Kremlin.
“Moscow’s forces have gone one kilometer into Ukrainian territory and are trying to advance up to ten kilometers,” a senior source in the Ukrainian military command said on Friday.
Russia is seeking to create a buffer zone to prevent Ukraine from striking the Russian region of Belgorod, which is very regularly targeted, she added.
The Kharkiv region has been very often bombed in recent months, particularly its energy infrastructure, and Ukraine has been worried for several weeks about a potential new Russian offensive in the area.
Evacuations of civilians were ordered around Vovtchansk, a local official said.
The city (of Vovchansk) is currently under massive bombardment. Residents had not seen such strikes before, he told Ukrainian media Hromadske Radio.
According to him, the shooting has intensified since 3:00 a.m. in this city which has 3,000 inhabitants.
Destabilize the border
The Ukrainian military channel DeepState claims on Telegram that the enemy has activated operations in the area and is trying to enter the border towns of Strilecha, Krasne, Pylna, Borysivka, Guatyshch and Pletenivka.
The resources mobilized by the enemy do not currently allow a deep penetration, assured this source, estimating that the operation aimed to destabilize the border.
According to the Telegram channel Rybar, close to the Moscow army, Russian units stationed in their country carried out strikes to reduce Ukrainian defense capabilities and advanced combat groups began to clear the area.
Rybar’s experts estimate that the combat zone has been extended to a depth of two to three kilometers in some places and that it is not, for the moment, a large-scale offensive, but rather a reconnaissance operation carried out successfully.
The Ukrainian army is struggling on the front, weakened by a lack of recruits and delays in the delivery of Western aid, which have notably emptied its ammunition stocks.
At the end of April, Washington approved a package of $61 billion in aid, to the great relief of kyiv, but it will be necessary to wait some time for this assistance to materialize on the battlefield.
Opposite, the Russian forces claimed limited territorial gains, mainly in the east, at the cost of heavy human losses, but without achieving any real breakthrough.
Russia, which benefits from more men, weapons and a more powerful defense industry, regained the initiative after the failure of the Ukrainian offensive in the summer of 2023.