Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has warned that Russia’s offensive in the north-eastern Kharkiv region this month may only be the “first wave” of several and Russian troops could aim for the city of Kharkiv. “We have to be sober and understand that they are going deeper into our territory. Not vice versa,” Zelenskiy said on Friday in an interview with AFP. Russian forces “want to attack” the city, one of Ukraine’s largest, although they realise it would be “very difficult”, he added.
Zelenskiy said the situation in the region, where Russia has seized several border villages, was “controlled” but “not stabilised” after Ukraine sent reinforcements. The president said Russian troops had penetrated 5-10km along the north-eastern border before being stopped by Ukrainian forces.
Russia hit Kharkiv with more strikes on Friday that killed at least three people and injured 28, the city’s mayor, Igor Terekhov said. The Kharkiv regional governor, Oleg Synegubov, said Russian forces were trying to surround Vovchansk, an almost deserted town near the border. Russian strikes in Vovchansk killed one man.
Moscow expanded the area of active combat by almost 70km by launching its offensive in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine’s army chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, has said. Syrskyi said Russia launched the offensive to force Ukraine to throw additional reserve brigades into fighting. He added that he expected fighting to intensify as troops are also preparing to defend in northern region of Sumy.
