The Ukrainian Defense Ministry announced on Friday that Russia had launched a ground offensive in the Kharkiv region, in northeastern Ukraine, and attempted to “break through the defense lines”. The “fights of various intensities” continue on the spot. Follow our live stream.
Russia launched a ground offensive in northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region on Friday and attempted to “break through the defense lines”, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said, 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.
The main information:
- Russia launched an operation in the Kharkiv region and is trying to “break through the defense lines”
- Attacks repelled but “fighting of varying intensity” continues, Ukrainian Defense Ministry says
- Volodymyr Zelensky speaks of a “fierce battle” still underway there
“Fighting of various intensities” continues
“Over the past day, the enemy carried out airstrikes in the Vovchansk sector”, bordering the Russian region of Belgorod, with guided aerial bombs, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said. “Around 5 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 ministry assured that these attacks had been “repulsed” but that “fighting of various intensities” continued and that “reserve units” had been deployed to “reinforce 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 during a press conference, while assuring that his general staff “knew it” and had “responded at 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 a strike in the town of Cherkaski Tychky, north of Kharkiv.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city and major objective for the Kremlin
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 Vovchansk, a local official said.
“The city (of Vovchansk) is currently under massive shelling. Residents have not seen such strikes before,” he told Ukrainian media Hromadske Radio. According to him, the shooting has intensified since 3 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 settlements of Strilecha, Krasne, Pylna, Borysivka, Guatyshche and Pletenivka. “The resources mobilized by the enemy do not currently allow deep penetration,” assured this Source, estimating that the operation aimed to “destabilize” the border.
According to the Rybar Telegram channel, 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 “cleanse” the area . Rybar’s experts estimate that the combat zone has “expanded 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 of a “successfully carried out reconnaissance operation”.
A Ukrainian army struggling on the front
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. Washington validated, at the end of April, an envelope of 61 billion dollars 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, 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.
