‘Russia has launched offensive in Kharkiv’
Russia has launched a cross-border ground offensive into Ukraine’s northeast Kharkiv region and fighting there is ongoing, the Ukrainian defence ministry and a highranking military source said on Friday. Ukraine pushed back Russian forces from most of Kharkiv region in late 2022, but Moscow is now back on the offensive there as Kyiv’s troops struggle with ammunition shortages.
“At approximately 5am (local time), the enemy attempted to break through our defence line under the cover of armoured vehicles,” the Ukrainian defence ministry said.
It said that it had repelled Russia’s incursion but that “fighting of varying intensity” was ongoing and that Russia had launched aerial strikes into an area near the border.
A high-ranking Ukrainian military source said Russia had advanced into Ukraine by “one kilometre”, and was trying to “create a buffer zone” to prevent attacks into Russian territory.
Vitaliy Ganchev, a Russianinstalled official in Kharkiv region, said on Telegram that there was “fighting on several parts of the line of contact, including in the border areas”.
Russia’s defence ministry said it had captured at least two villages in the region this week, pressing its advantage as Ukraine is outgunned and outmanned on the battlefield.
Meanwhile, Ukraine destroyed all 10 drones as Russia launched an overnight attack, but two people were injured and residential buildings in the Kharkiv region were consumed by fire as a result of the attack, Ukrainian officials said on Friday.
The air force said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that Russia also launched two anti-aircraft guided missiles.
Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Illya Yevlash said in a television broadcast that Russia most likely used the missiles to attack Kharkiv in the country’s northeast.
Ukraine drone attack sparks fire at refinery in Russia’s Kaluga
A Ukraine drone attack set an oil refinery in Russia’s Kaluga region on fire, RIA state news agency reported on Friday, citing emergency services sources.
Vladislav Shapsha, governor of the Kaluga region which borders the broader Moscow region, said on the Telegram messaging app that the fire was promptly extinguished. He did not say at what facility it took place.
RIA reported that three containers with diesel fuel and one with fuel oil were consumed by the fire at the Pervyi Zavod refinery in Kaluga.
Shapsha said there were no casualties in the attack.
Also, Russian anti-aircraft units intercepted a drone south of Moscow and there were no injuries or damage from falling debris, Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said early on Friday.
Sobyanin, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the drone, headed for Moscow, was downed in the Podolsk district just south of the capital. Emergency crews and specialists were on the scene.