Russia initiates attack on Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine

Russian forces have launched an attack on Ukraine’s north-eastern Kharkiv region as Moscow aims to take advantage of its superior weaponry and manpower before the arrival of more US military aid. Kyiv’s defence ministry said Russian armoured units attempted to break through Ukrainian defensive lines early on Friday after conducting artillery and air strikes around Vovchansk, a town 70km north-east of Kharkiv city.

“As of now, these attacks have been repelled; battles of varying intensity continue,” the ministry said on the social media platform X. “Reserve units have been deployed to strengthen the defence in this area. The Defense Forces of Ukraine continue to hold back the enemy’s offensive.”

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on the Russian attack, stating, “Ukraine met them there with our troops, brigades, and artillery. It is important that they can increase and pull up more forces in this direction, but our military, our command knew about this and calculated their forces to meet the enemy with fire. Now there is a fierce battle in this direction.”

Footage geolocated by the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War shows Russian forces made small tactical gains on Friday, capturing the village of Pylna in Ukraine’s northern Kharkiv region. Russia also appears to have made further, though incremental, gains to the south, west, and east of Pylna, occupying around 35sqm of territory.

Ukraine’s general staff did not confirm any Russian advances on Saturday. Ukrainian officials and western analysts have anticipated for some weeks that Russian forces could launch an offensive across the border into the Kharkiv or Sumy regions of Ukraine. Until now, Russia has concentrated its offensives in the eastern Donetsk region, particularly around the strategically important town of Chasiv Yar.

John Kirby, a spokesperson for the US National Security Council, told reporters Russia was likely to increase the “intensity” of its operations near Kharkiv, in an attempt to create a “shallow buffer zone” along the Ukrainian border with Russia. While Moscow had some advantages due to the lapse in US funding for Ukraine earlier in the year, he did not expect it to make any “breakthroughs” now that US military aid was flowing again, and predicted Ukraine would “withstand” Russian attacks this year.

A Ukrainian military official told the Financial Times that Russia was preparing for offensives along the north-eastern frontline to draw Ukrainian forces away from Donetsk, where they are struggling to hold their defensive lines. Major General Vadym Skibitsky, the deputy head of Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence service, stated that Russia had 35,000 troops from its northern grouping based across the border from Kharkiv and was looking to increase the number to up to 50,000. Analysts said a Russian offensive of this kind would be either intended to create a buffer zone along the border or as a “fixing operation” to divert Ukrainian forces from the main defensive effort in the Donbas region.

Russian forces are likely trying to exploit the lag between US Congressional approval of $61bn of aid for Ukraine last month and US weaponry and ammunition reaching the front lines. There have also been delays in European supplies, with Czech President Petr Pavel stating that an emergency consignment of artillery munitions crowd-funded by EU countries was now due to arrive in Ukraine in June. Ukraine is also set to expand its mobilization efforts to raise more soldiers for its armed forces, with new laws coming into effect later this month.