Russia says soldiers cross into a border town close to Kharkiv

Russia says soldiers cross into a border town close to Kharkiv

In the midst of Russia's invasion on Ukraine, military doctors tend to an injured Ukrainian service man close to the town of Vovchansk.

Russia claims to have troops in the border town of Vovchansk, in the northeast of Ukraine, which is close to Kharkiv, the country's second-largest city.

According to Ukraine, there is still a lot of combat going on.

Following its unexpected border crossings on Friday, Russia has escalated its offensive in the area, taking control of at least nine towns and communities in one of the biggest land operations since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Commanders in Ukraine are worried about what would happen if Russian soldiers get within artillery range of Kharkiv, since thousands of residents have fled in that direction.

The Ukrainian army has acknowledged that it has achieved "tactical success" and said that Russia has used "significant forces" in its most recent attack, maybe up to five battalions.

However, the Russian army said in a statement that it had lost over 100 soldiers in a single day and that it was moving to fend off invading forces.

Situated 45 miles (74 km) from Kharkiv, Vovchansk has been subjected to heavy bombing in recent times, and local authorities have reported that Moscow is now using glide bombs to target communities in the area.

Vovchansk is not very important militarily, despite being a major town in the area; its conquest would be detrimental to Ukrainian morale.

Oleh Syniehubov, chairman of Kharkiv area, said that Russia was purposefully attempting to elongate the front line by launching small-scale attacks in novel directions.

According to Reuters, he told local television that Ukrainian forces were containing Russian soldiers, but he also issued a warning that combat may move to other communities.

According to him, over 6,000 people have been evacuated from the area, and 30 communities have been hit by artillery or mortar bombardment.

Even if it is still improbable that this Russian cross-border assault would succeed in seizing Kharkiv, the residents' worry is only growing as they watch Russia gradually advance on this new front line in the northeast.

The absence of defenses allowed Russian forces to first "walk in" to the area, according to disgruntled Ukrainian soldiers who spoke with the BBC.

Vovchansk resident Kostyantyn Tymchenko, who is among those departing the town for the comparatively safer environs of Kharkiv, expressed his surprise at how close the combat was.

"Half a kilometre away, there is already fighting, automatic weapons," he said.

"Russians are on one side [of the Vovcha River], and we are on the other.

Tanks are continually coming, firing back, and moving on. It would work out, I supposed. It stunned me. I wish I had been aware sooner."

Away from Kharkiv, the Russian-installed mayor of Donetsk, an eastern Ukrainian city under Russian control, has said that two people were killed by shelling.

Additionally, the local governor appointed by Moscow said that a strike on an industrial zone in Krasnodon, also known as Sorokyne in Ukrainian, a region of eastern Ukraine under Russian control, claimed the lives of at least three individuals.

Regarding these instances, Ukraine has remained silent.

Additionally, Russia claimed to have shot down 31 Ukrainian drones over various areas of the seized Crimea.

It happens after Russian authorities stated that at least fifteen people died when pieces of a downed Ukrainian missile damaged an apartment building in the Russian border city of Belgorod.

According to a security source from Ukraine, Ukrainian military attacked an electrical substation and an oil terminal in western Russia.