Russian forces attacked the northeastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv on Thursday night. Three houses caught fire and three people were injured. The Russians tried to break through the Ukrainian defenses with their armored vehicles. Until then without success, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense reported on Friday afternoon, but the fighting continues.
Although the Russian offensive has been focused on the Donetsk region for months, the Russians are also building up their forces near Kharkiv. The major attack on the region opens a new front, more than two years after the large-scale invasion.
By Friday afternoon, Russian forces had advanced about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) northeast of Kharkov near Volchansk, a senior military source told the news agency Reuters. According to the same source, the Russian army is planning to advance 10 kilometers into the region. Kiev sent reinforcements to the area.
Buffer zone
An evacuation is underway in Volchansk, which has about 17,000 inhabitants. According to the news agencies, the village was “massively” shelled and besieged.
Attacking Volchansk is strategically interesting for Russia, analysts from the news agency write Associated Press, because in this way the Russian troops demarcate a buffer zone. In March, Russian President Putin said he wanted to create a buffer zone in the region to better protect his troops against Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod and other border regions. Since then, Kharkiv, which is located in a particularly vulnerable area near Russia, has been hit several times by major air strikes on its energy infrastructure.
Chaos is gold
While Russia is unlikely to capture the city of Kharkov, it could force Ukraine to send more troops to the region. This makes other areas more vulnerable to attacks, according to AP. The evacuation of Volchansk also creates chaos and confusion, which is worth gold for the Russian troops.
Ukraine expelled Russian forces from most of the Kharkiv region in 2022, the first year of the war. But now Russian troops are again on the offensive and are slowly advancing into the more southern Donetsk region.
