Russia has pounded over 30 villages and towns in Ukraine’s north-eastern Kharkiv region after launching a ground offensive in the area, forcing almost 6,000 to evacuate, the local governor said.
Ukraine’s General Staff acknowledged on Monday that Russia “currently is achieving tactical success” after driving a wedge into Kyiv’s defences.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Monday that troops had “improved the tactical position and dealt a blow to (Ukrainian) manpower” around border villages including Lyptsi and the town of Vovchansk.
“They are shelling the villages, firing on everything they can,” Sergiy Kryvetchenko, deputy head of the military administration in the village of Lyptsi, told AFP.
“The KABs (guided aerial bombs) are flying. The artillery is flying. Drones. Everything,” he said.
On Friday, Russia began an offensive across its border into the Kharkiv region and later claimed to have taken several villages in the region near the border.
The situation in the Kharkiv region was “complex and dynamically changing”, with Russian troops mounting assaults in various areas, Ukraine’s General Staff said.
Kharkiv regional governor Oleg Synegubov wrote on social media that over the last day, “more than 30” towns and villages “were struck by enemy artillery and mortar attacks”, wounding at least nine people.
Some areas were also bombed by Russian aircraft, Mr Synegubov added.
A total of 5,762 people have been evacuated from their homes since the start of the offensive, the governor said.
Over the course of Sunday, Russia “carried out 22 assaults” in five border areas, 14 of which were still ongoing, the General Staff said.
The General Staff said fighting was ongoing for the border town of Vovchansk, where Russia was deploying “significant forces”, numbering up to five battalions.
Vovchansk, which previously had a population of 2,500 but now has only 200-300 residents, suffered “massive shelling” on Sunday that hit houses and wounded seven, Mr Synegubov said.
A 69-year-old man was also wounded in the town of Izyum by detonating ammunition and a woman was injured in a village near the town of Kupiansk.
The city of Kharkiv itself had not been struck over the last 24 hours, however, he said.
Kharkiv is Ukraine’s second largest city, and the roughly 1.3 million inhabitants who continue to live there are faced with regular missile and drone strikes.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his nightly video address, said “defensive battles” had engulfed a string of Kharkiv region villages.
Fighting, he said, was “no less acute” in the Donetsk region.
Ukraine is on the defensive after months of slowed supplies of US munitions. Russia’s forces hold a significant advantage in manpower and munitions.
In 2022, soon after the start of their full-scale invasion, Russian forces reached the suburbs of the city of Kharkiv before being driven back to the border.
Kyiv says months of delays by the US Congress before voting through the aid package last month have cost them on the battlefield.
It now hopes significant quantities of the approved assistance will arrive quickly to bolster the defence effort.
‘Expanding’ front line
Mr Synegubov said on national television that “the grey zone and the front line are expanding” because Russia is “trying to deliberately stretch it, attacking in small groups in new directions”.
The DeepState Telegram channel, which is close to the Ukrainian army, wrote that Russia had taken pockets of territory measuring around 100 square kilometres or 39 square miles.
Russia “continues to advance to Vovchansk”, the channel said.
“They are gaining foothold on the outskirts for further entry into the town.”
Russia was also advancing towards the border village of Lyptsi and attempting to enter the nearby village of Glyboke, it said.
Ukraine was mounting “constant fire”, including from drones, “but unfortunately it does not stop them”.
The Russian defence ministry said troops had repelled Ukrainian counterattacks near Glyboke.
Rybar, a Russian Telegram channel with military links, said Moscow’s offensive led to territorial gains because troops took some villages where Russian soldiers already had a presence and others that were “deserted wastelands”.
As of Monday morning, there were no “large-scale breakthroughs of the enemy’s defences”, Rybar said.
Ukrainian military said Russia was also shelling the Sumy and Chernigiv border regions further west.
AFP/Reuters