Kyiv sends reinforcements
Ukraine reports Russian advances in Kharkiv region
May 10, 2024, 1:39 p.m
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The border region around the city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine has been under massive fire for weeks. Now Kyiv is strengthening its troops there. Russia is apparently trying to break through with tanks.
According to Ukrainian sources, the Russian army has launched a major attack in the border region near the city of Kharkiv. In the morning from 5 a.m. local time, enemy ground troops advanced under the protection of armored vehicles to break through the defense lines, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said. The target of the attacks was the Ukrainian city of Vovchansk, which is located about 40 kilometers northeast of Kharkiv, close to the border.
The information on this is contradictory. The military said the attacks had been repelled so far and the fighting was continuing at varying levels of intensity. According to a high-ranking Ukrainian military official, Russian troops advanced around one kilometer into Ukrainian territory. The governor of the Kharkiv region, Ihor Synjehubov, wrote on Telegram: “The armed forces of Ukraine are holding their positions: not a meter of ground has been lost.” He does not see any danger for the city of Kharkiv with a population of over a million people. The information cannot be independently verified.
There has been speculation for weeks about a possible Russian offensive near Kharkiv. There are reports that Russian troops have amassed tens of thousands of troops there. The seriousness of the situation is demonstrated by the fact that the Ministry of Defense in Kiev now commented on it, not the General Staff as usual. Several reserve units have been relocated to the affected area to strengthen defenses, the ministry said.
The day before, the section of the front near Vovchansk had been bombed from the air with glide bombs by Russian fighter planes. Russian artillery shelled the front Ukrainian positions overnight in preparation for the attack. The Russian military blogger Rybar also described the fighting near Vovtschansk: The first thing was to expand the combat zone and to identify the enemy positions during the battle.
Ukrainian civilians are being evacuated from Vovchansk and the surrounding areas, the Guardian reported. The newspaper quoted from an interview with the head of the local military administration, Tamaz Gambarashvili, on Ukrainian Radio Hromadske: “Most of them leave with their own transport. But at the same time, together with the humanitarian center, we organize transport for those who do not have a car. “
Russia has been trying to seize the border region of Kharkiv since its full-scale invasion began in February 2022. The Russian army had to withdraw from there in autumn 2022. But like everywhere on the front, in this region since the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the summer of 2023, it is the Russian armed forces that currently have the initiative.