Four days after Russia launched a major attack in the border region near Ukraine's second biggest city of Kharkiv, the leadership in Kiev on Tuesday reported a slight stabilization of the front.
The situation in the Kharkiv area is very tense and is changing rapidly, the head of the HUR military intelligence service, Kyrylo Budanov, said in a TV news update. "But I believe that there has been a rapid tendency towards stabilization since yesterday evening."
Russian troops were being blocked at the border, Budanov said. However, he warned that they could make a similar advance further north towards the capital of the adjacent Sumy region.
President Volodymyr Zelensky also said in his video message on Monday evening that Ukrainian troops were defending the section of the front and had launched a counterattack. There was no independent confirmation of these assessments.
According to the Ukrainian General Staff on Tuesday, Russian troops continued to attack in the direction of Slobozhanske, around 30 kilometres north of Kharkiv.
Military experts analysing photos on the internet also assumed that Russian troops were on the outskirts of Vovchansk, 40 kilometres north-east of Kharkiv.
In Moscow, the Defence Ministry reported that Russian troops had also captured the village of Buhruvatka, south-west of Vovchansk, and repelled all Ukrainian counterattacks.
