Moscow's forces captured five villages in a new ground assault in northeastern Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said, as journalists in the town of Vovchansk described multiple buildings destroyed after Russian airstrikes.
Ukrainian officials did not confirm on Saturday whether Russia had taken the villages, which lie in a disputed “gray zone” on the border between Ukraine's Kharkiv region and Russia.
Ukrainian journalists reported that on Friday Russian troops took the villages of Borysivka, Ohirtseve, Pylna and Strilecha.
Russia said the village of Pletenivka was also taken.
In an afternoon statement on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said fighting was continuing in Strilecha and Pletenivka, as well as in Krasne, Morokhovets, Oliinykove, Lukyantsi and Hatyshche.
“Our troops are carrying out counterattacks there for the second day, protecting Ukrainian territory,” he said.
On Friday, the Institute for the Study of War said geolocated images confirm that at least one of the villages was taken. The Washington-based think tank described recent Russian advances as “tactically significant.”
The new attack on the region has forced more than 1,700 civilians residing in settlements near the fighting to flee, according to Ukrainian authorities. It comes after Russia stepped up attacks in March on energy infrastructure and settlements, which analysts predicted were a concerted effort by Moscow to shape the conditions for an offensive.
On Saturday, Russia continued to attack Vovchansk with airstrikes and rockets as police and volunteers rushed to evacuate residents. At least 20 people were evacuated to safety in a nearby town. Police said 900 people had been evacuated the day before.
Associated Press journalists who accompanied an evacuation team described empty streets with multiple buildings destroyed and others on fire. The road was littered with newly created craters and the city was covered in dust and shrapnel and a strong smell of gunpowder hung in the air. Mushroom clouds of smoke rose across the horizon as Russian planes carried out multiple airstrikes.
AP journalists witnessed nine airstrikes during the three hours they were there.
“The situation in Vovchansk and settlements along the border [with Russia] It's incredibly difficult. Constant airstrikes, multiple attacks with rocket and missile systems, artillery attacks are carried out,” said Tamaz Hambarashvili, head of the Vovchansk military administration.
“For the second day in a row, we are evacuating everyone in our community who is willing to evacuate,” he said.
“I think they are destroying the city to make [local] people leave, to make sure that there are no soldiers, no one. To create a 'gray' zone.”
Russia's recent offensive in Kharkiv seeks to exploit ammunition shortages before promised Western supplies can reach the front lines and pin down Ukrainian forces in the northeast and keep them away from the intense battles raging in the region. of Donetsk, where Moscow's troops are gaining ground, analysts said.
Russian military bloggers said the attack could mark the start of a Russian attempt to create a “buffer zone” that President Vladimir Putin promised to create earlier this year to stop frequent Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod and other Russian border regions.
The governor of Russia's Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine, said Saturday that one woman was killed and 29 people were wounded, including a child, in shelling by Ukraine's armed forces.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials have downplayed Russian statements about captured territory, and reinforcements have been sent to the Kharkiv region to contain Russian forces.
On Telegram, Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said heavy fighting continued in the areas around Borysivka, Ohirtseve, Pylna and Oliinykove, but that the situation was under control and there was no threat of a ground assault on the city of Kharkiv. Kharkiv.
Meanwhile, artillery, mortar and aerial shelling hit more than 30 different cities and towns in the region on Saturday, killing at least three people and wounding five others, Syniehubov said.
