Hundreds of people have been evacuated from areas near the Russian border in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, the regional governor said Saturday, a day after Russia launched a surprise cross-border ground offensive. “A total of 1,775 people were evacuated,” Governor Oleg Synegubov wrote on social media, adding that Russia had fired artillery and mortars on 30 localities in the region, in northeastern Ukraine. , in the last 24 hours.
Russian forces have made small advances in the border area, from which they were pushed back almost two years ago. The Kharkiv region has largely been under Ukrainian control since September 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reported “intense fighting” across the entire front line on Friday evening.
Tactics and “buffer zone”
A senior Ukrainian military source said Russian forces had advanced a kilometer into Ukraine and were trying to “create a buffer zone” in the Kharkiv region and neighboring Sumy to prevent attacks on Russian territory. .
Authorities in kyiv have warned for weeks that Moscow could attempt to attack northeastern border regions, pushing its advantage, as Ukraine faces delays in Western aid and shortages of fighters . The Ukrainian army has also declared that it has deployed more troops in the region.
The Institute for the Study of War said Friday that Russia had made “significant tactical gains” but that the main goal of the operation was “to attract Ukrainian human capabilities and equipment from other critical sectors of the front. The ISW said it did not appear to be a “large-scale offensive operation aimed at enveloping, encircling and seizing Kharkiv”, Ukraine’s second city.