Russia claims to have captured five border villages in Kharkiv amid fresh offensive

Russia’s Ministry of Defense claims to have captured five villages in the Kharkiv Region on the border with Ukraine, while Ukrainian authorities have disputed this and say the “fighting continues.”

Russia’s military claimed to have captured five villages in the Kharkiv region on the border with Ukraine as part of a new offensive, while Ukrainian authorities said it was repelling the attacks and “fighting continues.” Russia began its surprise cross-border attack on Friday, making two assaults inside northern Ukraine on Friday, in what President Volodymyr Zelensky called a “new wave of counteroffensive actions” by Russia. The precise goal is unclear but Moscow may be trying to create a buffer zone to reduce Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory or try to wear down and divert the attention of Kyiv’s already thinly stretched forces. In a statement Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed a new military grouping called Sever (North) had “liberated” several villages, wording that reflects Russia’s denial of Ukrainian statehood. “As a result of offensive operations, the units of the Sever Group of Forces have liberated Borisovka, Ogurtsovo, Pletenevka, Pylnaya, and Strelechya,” the statement said, adding that Russian troops had also taken the village of Keramik in the Donetsk region, further south. Ukrainian forces, meanwhile, said it continued efforts to repel the stepped-up Russian attacks while hundreds of Ukrainian civilians have been evacuated from the northern Kharkiv region.