Ukraine claims it rejected a cross-border attempt by Russia

Ukraine claims it rejected a cross-border attempt by Russia

After Moscow's soldiers crossed the border and attempted to breach defense lines, Ukraine claims to have repulsed an armored assault by Moscow in the northeastern Kharkiv area.

Oleh Syniehubov, the regional leader of Kharkiv, said that "not a single metre has been lost" despite attempts by Russian reconnaissance troops to breach the border.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a press conference that "Ukraine met them there with troops: brigades and artillery."

For a while now, commanders in Ukraine have been anticipating an attack in the summer, potentially even a move to seize Kharkiv, the regional capital. However, authorities are certain that Russia lacks the means to do this.

According to Andri Kovalenko, director of Ukraine's center for combatting misinformation, Russia might make things worse in border regions but couldn't take control of the country's second city.

The two minor incursions that occurred across the Russian border on Friday provide Ukrainian troops a well-known but unsettling axis.

According to the Kyiv defense ministry, the offensive began with extensive bombardment of local communities. Before tiny Russian "scouting groups" came in, Russian air attacks hit Vovchansk "using guided aerial bombs" with artillery assistance.

Vovchansk's municipal leader said that since Friday am, the town has been under intense assault and that residents were being evacuated. The bombardment resulted in at least one death and five injuries, according to Mr. Syniehubov.

"The adversary made an effort to breach our defense line at about 5:00 by hiding behind armored vehicles. Fighting of various intensities continues, but as of right now, these assaults have been repelled, according to the ministry of defense.

According to authorities, there is still intense combat, and people are being evacuated from the Vovchansk region while reserve soldiers take over.

Moscow has been pushing in the eastern Donetsk area in an attempt to take advantage of the US military's delayed arrival with munitions.

Russia's rising goals and confidence are further shown by the resumption of significant conflict in the northeast.

Russia is preparing an attack on both Kharkiv and the northern province of Sumy, according to Maj Gen Vadyn Skibitsky, the deputy head of military intelligence for Ukraine, who made this revelation to The Economist last week. Lt Gen Oleksandr Pavliuk, the commander of the ground troops in Ukraine, reiterated that warning.

There are reports that tens of thousands of Russian soldiers have assembled along the border.

You may mistake this for a rerun of 2022, when Russia was unable to seize Kharkiv and Sumy in the first few weeks of a full-scale invasion.

Officials and generals do not believe either city could collapse, at least not on the surface.

When Russia's forces were more numerous and well-trained than they are today, it was unable to take control of either city. Roughly 90% of the first 150,000 soldiers, according to Ukrainian reports, are either dead or injured.

Military analyst Oleksandr Kovalenko has noted that after months of bombing, Russia required some 80,000 soldiers to take control of the little eastern city of Avdiivka in February of last year. He said that major cities like Sumy and Kharkiv were entirely different in size.

Second, Russia has discussed establishing a buffer zone between Ukraine and its Belgorod area.

This is due to the fact that, despite the concerns of certain Western partners, Ukrainian soldiers have persisted in launching artillery strikes on Russian territory.