Civilians evacuate from northeastern Ukraine as Russia presses on the border

Thousands more civilians fled renewed Russian ground offensive in northeastern Ukrainewhich has hit cities and towns with artillery and mortar fire, authorities said Sunday.

The intense battles have forced at least one Ukrainian unit in the Kharkiv region to withdraw, ceding more ground to Russian forces in less defended towns in the so-called “Gray zone” next to the border with Russia.

Meanwhile, an apartment building 10 plants collapsed in the Russian city of Belgorod, near the border, with reports of several deaths and injuries. Russian authorities said the building had collapsed after being targeted by Ukrainian shells. Ukraine He did not comment on the event.

At least 4,000 civilians have fled the Kharkiv region since Friday, when Moscow forces began the operation, the governor said. Oleh Syniehubov, in a statement on social networks. Heavy fighting took place on Sunday along the northeastern front line, where Russian forces attacked 27 towns in the last 24 hours.

Analysts say the Russian campaign is designed to take advantage of the other side’s lack of ammunition before promised Western supplies can reach the front. Ukrainian soldiers said the Kremlin is using the usual Russian tactic of employing disproportionate fire and infantry attacks to exhaust its troops and their firepower.

The advance occurred after Russia redoubled its attacks against Ukrainian infrastructure and populations in March, which analysts said was an attempt to Moscow to prepare the ground for an offensive.

The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyysaid that stopping the Russian advance in the area was a priority and that kyiv’s troops were continuing their counteroffensive in seven towns in the Kharkiv region.

“Disrupting Russian offensive intentions is now our number one task. Whether we succeed in that task depends on each soldier, each sergeant, each officer,” he claimed.

He Russian Ministry of Defense said on Saturday that Moscow’s forces had captured five towns on the border of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and Russia. These areas were likely to be poorly fortified due to the dynamic aspect of the fighting and the constant bombardment, which facilitated the Russian advance.

Ukrainian authorities have not confirmed Moscow’s progress.

A Ukrainian unit said it had been forced to withdraw in some areas and that Russian forces had taken at least one more village on Saturday night.

In a video Saturday night, the unit Hostri Kartuzy, part of the special forces section of the Ukrainian national guard, said he was fighting for control of the town of Hlyboke.

“Today, during heavy fighting, our defenders were forced to withdraw from a few more of their positions, and today another town has come completely under Russian control. By 20:00, the fight for the town of Hlyboke is still going on,” the fighters said in the video.

The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War said Saturday that it viewed claims that Moscow had taken Strilecha, Pylna, Pletenivka and Borsivika as credible, and that geolocated images also appeared to indicate that Russian forces have taken Morokhovets and Oliinykove. He described recent Russian gains as “tactically significant”.

In the early days of the war, Russia made an unsuccessful attempt to quickly take Kharkiv but withdrew from its surroundings after about a month. In the fall of 2022, seven months later, the Ukrainian military expelled Kharkiv to the Russian troops. The bold counterattack helped persuade Western countries that Ukraine could defeat Russia on the battlefield and deserved military support.