Russia launches Kharkiv ground offensive

Russian forces have launched an armoured ground attack on Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region early this morning, advancing one kilometre near the border town of Vovchansk in an effort to create a buffer zone, a senior military source said.

The assault opens a new front in the war more than two years since Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Fighting in the border areas of the Kharkiv region continued and Ukraine has sent more forces to the area as reinforcements, the defence ministry said.

“At approximately 5am, there was an attempt by the enemy to break through our defensive line under the cover of armoured vehicles,” the ministry said.

“As of now, these attacks have been repulsed; battles of varying intensity continue.”

A senior Ukrainian military source who declined to be named said that Russian forces were aiming to push the Ukrainian armed forces as far back as ten kilometres from the Russian border and that Kyiv’s forces were trying to hold them back.

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