The Russian Ministry of Defense said in a press conference that its forces took control of the villages of Pletnevka, Ohertsev, Borisivka, Pelna and Strelica in the Kharkiv region on the other side of the border with the Russian Belgorod region.
While the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense stressed that these attacks would be “repelled” and that “fighting of varying intensity” would continue, noting that Russia had launched air strikes on an area near the border.
Kharkiv Governor Oleh Sinyhopov said that clashes are still continuing in the five villages, which are between 3 and 5 kilometers from the Russian border.
Sinyhopov considered that there is no imminent danger to the region’s capital, Kharkiv, which is the second largest city in Ukraine, and that there is no need to begin evacuating its population of about 1.3 million people who still live there despite repeated attacks with missiles and drones.
He explained that the authorities evacuated more than 2,500 people from the border area.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also said in his video evening speech that battles are continuing in 7 border villages in the Kharkiv region, and described the situation in the Donetsk region as “particularly tense.”
He added, “Our defense operations continue in the Kharkiv region, in the area of the villages of Strelica, Krasny, Morokhovets, Olennikovo, Lukyantsi, Hatishchi and Pletnevka.”
He continued, “The situation in Donetsk in particular is still tense, especially in the direction of Pokrovsky,” noting that 9 (Russian) attacks were repelled.
Kyiv quickly sent reinforcements to deal with the incursion. Nazar Voloshin, spokesman for the Eastern Command, said, “Ukrainian forces were able to contain Russian forces in the border areas, which it was not clear who controls them.”
At the beginning of its military operation in February 2022, Russian forces attacked the Kharkiv region for the first time, but were repelled from most parts of the region in a lightning Ukrainian counterattack in September of that year.
The neighboring Russian region of Belgorod has since been subjected to regular Ukrainian attacks with drones and artillery. Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated last March that Moscow might try to establish a buffer zone inside Ukrainian territory.
TRT Arabic – Agencies