Reuters :
Russia on Monday pummelled more than 30 towns and villages in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region after launching a surprise ground offensive over the border last week, the local governor said.
The Ukrainian army acknowledged Russia was “achieving tactical success” after the ground assault, which sparked the evacuation of almost 6,000 people.
Russia’s defence ministry said its troops had “improved the tactical position and dealt a blow to (Ukrainian) manpower” around border villages, including Lyptsi, and the town of Vovchansk. “They are shelling the villages, firing everything they can,” Sergiy Kryvetchenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian military administration in the village of Lyptsi, told AFP.
“The KABs (guided aerial bombs) are flying. The artillery is flying. Drones. Everything,” he said.
Russia began an offensive across the border into the Kharkiv region on Friday and later claimed to have taken several villages.
The situation in Kharkiv is “complex and dynamically changing,” with Russian troops mounting assaults in various areas, Ukraine’s army said. Kharkiv regional governor Oleg Synegubov wrote on social media that over the last day, “more than 30” towns and villages “were struck by enemy artillery and mortar attacks,” wounding at least nine people.