Russia captures six towns in eastern Ukraine

Kiev. This Saturday, Russia claimed responsibility for the capture of six towns in eastern Ukraine and evacuated hundreds of people from areas near the border.

These advances come the day after the launch of a vast offensive that gave rise to “intense fighting” along the entire front line, according to Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky, who promised to “destroy” the “occupation” forces.

The Russian Defense Ministry indicated that its troops took five Ukrainian towns (Borisivka, Ogirtseve, Pletenivka, Pylna and Strilecha) in the Kharkiv region, near the Russian border, and another further south, Keramik, in the Donetsk region.

“Fighting for control of towns (…) continues in the border area,” declared Ukrainian military spokesman Nazar Voloshin on television.

The governor of Kharkiv, Oleg Sinegubov, reported the evacuation of 1,775 people and Russian attacks with artillery and mortars against some 30 towns in the last 24 hours.

Several groups of residents were seen in vans and cars with as many suitcases as they could, at an arrival point for evacuees outside the city of Kharkiv.

Evacuees, many of them elderly, registered and received food and medical assistance in tents.

Liubov Nikolaieva, a 61-year-old woman who fled with her 81-year-old mother from the border town of Liptsi, told AFP that it was “impossible” to live there and that her family “stayed until the last moment.”

“There is constant fire, from guided aerial bombs and mortar shells above our heads. We were very afraid,” he said.

The Kremlin forces made small advances in this Ukrainian border area, which they already invaded in 2022 and from which they were later expelled that same year.

These are the latest Russian advances against Ukrainian troops outnumbered in numbers and ammunition.

Recover “the initiative”

Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky said the new Russian ground offensive in the Kharkiv region had sparked a “fierce battle”.

“We have to disrupt Russian offensive operations and for Ukraine to regain the initiative,” Zelensky wrote this Saturday.

The Kharkiv region has essentially been under Ukrainian control since September 2022.

In recent months, Ukrainian forces have multiplied attacks against energy infrastructure in Russian territory and in areas of the country occupied by Moscow. One of the Russian regions most attacked has been Belgorod, bordering Kharkiv.

A missile bombardment hit a restaurant this Saturday in Donetsk, a city in eastern Ukraine that is controlled by Russia, leaving three dead and eight injured, reported Denis Pushilin, the authority appointed by Moscow in the region.

The authorities of the Lugansk region, occupied by Moscow in eastern Ukraine, reported this Saturday four dead in a Ukrainian attack on an oil depot with American-made missiles, in the town of Rovenki.

Moscow-appointed governor Leonid Pasechnik said this attack “set the fuel tank on fire and damaged surrounding houses.”

In Russia, two people died in Ukrainian attacks in the Belgorod and Kursk regions.

For their part, Ukrainian authorities reported another six civilians killed in Russian bombings against the regions of Donetsk, Kharkov and Kherson in the last 24 hours.

“Tactical” advances

The Ukrainian military said it deployed more troops, and Zelensky himself said his forces were using artillery and drones to stop the Russian advance in the Kharkiv region.

The US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) estimated on Friday that Russia had made “significant” tactical advances. But he added that Russia’s main objective does not appear to be to unleash a “large-scale offensive to encircle and take Kharkiv,” the country’s second largest city.

According to military expert Olivier Kempf, of the Foundation for Strategic Research, “what we have seen for 24 hours is somewhat limited”, with “a small artillery preparation and not a large concentration of troops behind.” “It’s not a big (Russian) offensive, it doesn’t seem like it, 24 hours after the start of operations,” he told AFP.

The United States announced a new $400 million military aid package for kyiv hours after beginning the new Russian operation, and said it was confident in the Ukrainian army’s ability to repel any Moscow offensive.