Russian forces launched a ground offensive in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine in the early morning hours of May 11, 2024.
Hostilities in border regions of Ukraine
The attack opens a new front in the war, more than two years after the Russian invasion. Fighting in border areas in the Kharkiv region continues and Kiev has sent more forces as reinforcements, the defense ministry said.
“At around 5 am, there was an attempt by the enemy to break through our defense line under the cover of armored vehicles,” the ministry said. “So far, these attacks have been repelled – fighting continues with varying levels of intensity.”
A senior Ukrainian military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russian forces were aiming to push Ukrainian armed forces as far as 10 kilometers back from the Russian border and that Kiev’s forces were trying to contain them.
OR Ukraine drove Russian troops out of most of the Kharkiv region in 2022, the first year of the war, but after withstanding Kiev’s counteroffensive last year, Russian forces are on the offensive again and slowly advancing into the Donetsk region further south.
In March, fears were raised about the Kremlin’s intentions in the Kharkiv region when the Russian president Vladimir Putin he called for the creation of a neutral zone within Ukrainian territory, which according to him is necessary for its protection of Russia.
Since then, according to iefimerida, Kharkiv, which is particularly vulnerable due to its proximity to Russia, has been pounded by airstrikes that have severely damaged the region’s energy infrastructure.
In Vovchansk, a border town in Kharkiv with a pre-war population of 17,000 now down to a few thousand, authorities said the settlement and surrounding areas were being heavily shelled. Authorities are helping residents leave the area, Tamaz Gabarashvili, head of the Vovchansk military administration, told Hromadske radio.
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