President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Friday that Ukrainian forces had gained “combat control” over areas in the northern parts of the Kharkiv region, where Russian troops had conducted an incursion earlier this month.
“Our soldiers have now managed to take combat control of the border area where the Russian occupiers entered,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.
Zelenskyy’s remarks, made after a meeting with military and regional officials in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, seemed to contrast with statements by Russian officials.
Viktor Vodolatskiy, a member of Russia’s State Duma, was quoted by the Tass news agency as saying that Russian forces controlled more than half of the town of Vovchansk, located 5 km (three miles) inside the border.
Vodolatskiy was quoted as saying that once Vovchansk was secured, Russian forces would target three cities in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region—Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, and Pokrovsk.
Reuters was unable to independently verify battlefield accounts from either side.
Russian forces advanced into border areas of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region this month, with Russia’s Defence Ministry claiming control of around 12 settlements.
Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials had been reporting success in “stabilising” the area.
The Ukrainian military’s General Staff, in its evening report on Friday said the situation in Vovchansk was “tense but controlled by the defence forces”.
“The Russian army today launched air terror against this town — eight guided bombs hit the town,” it said. Attacks were launched on at least two other settlements north of Kharkiv.
A late-night report by the General Staff stated that Ukrainian forces had repelled 10 Russian attacks in the area, including around Vovchansk.
The report also mentioned that Russian forces had achieved “partial success” near Kupiansk, further east in the Kharkiv region, and in the Pokrovsk sector, where heavy fighting has been ongoing further south in the Donetsk region.
Ukrainian military bloggers reported that Ukrainian troops were holding their ground around Vovchansk. They noted that Russian forces were using less infantry in the area and instead relying on long-distance fire, which had limited accuracy.
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