The Ukrainian border city of Vovchansk, in the Kharkiv region, suffered heavy bombardment yesterday (Picture: Getty Images)
The Russian Ministry of Defence has announced the capture of a key village as the Kremlin makes a major push into Ukraine.
Officials said they had seized Starytsia, in the northeast Kharkiv region, earlier on Saturday.
Russian troops reportedly continue to advance in the area, where the ministry claims to have taken control of 12 settlements in the past week.
It comes as Moscow pushes on with its most recent offensive, with the apparent goal of capturing Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city.
The latest push, which opens up a new front in the conflict, was launched early on the morning of May 10.
Analysts have warned the move will likely signal the start of a broader push into the contested Donetsk region in the south, as part of an effort to pressure Kyiv’s already stretched defences.
In an interview with AFP earlier today, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the situation in the Kharkiv region is under control but not ‘stabilised’.
Multiple civilian casualties have been reported this week amid ongoing Russian airstrikes against the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv (Picture: Shutterstock)
He added that Russian soldiers have penetrated between five and ten kilometres along the northeast border of the country, but are currently being held at bay by Ukrainian forces.
He said: ‘We have to be sober and understand that they are going deeper into our territory. Not vice versa. And that’s still their advantage.”
Meanwhile Russian President Vladimir Putin, currently on a diplomatic trip to China, has denied any intentions to take the city of Kharkiv itself, suggesting instead the goal of the new offensive is to create a buffer zone along the northern Ukrainian border.
More Trending
He further implied the attacks are a response to the Ukrainian shelling of Russia’s Belgorod region.
Putin said: ‘I have said publicly that if [the shelling] continues, we will be forced to create a security zone, a sanitary zone.
‘That is what we are doing.’
His statements come amid reports two children were among the five people injured after an airstrike against Kharkiv this afternoon, which also destroyed several residential buildings.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.