VOVCHANSK, Ukraine — The forces of Moscow captured five villages in a renewed ground attack in northeastern Ukraine, as stated by the Russian Defense Ministry on Saturday, and Associated Press reporters in the city of Vovchansk observed multiple buildings destroyed following Russian airstrikes and barrages of Grad rockets.
Ukrainian officials have not confirmed whether Russia has seized the villages, which are located in a disputed "gray zone" on the border of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and Russia.
Ukrainian journalists reported that the villages of Borysivka, Ohirtseve, Pylna, and Strilecha were captured by Russian troops on Friday. Russia claimed that the village of Pletenivka was also taken.
In a statement on Saturday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the fighting was still ongoing in the settlements of Strilecha and Pletenivka, as well as Krasne, Morokhovets, Oliinykove, Lukyantsi, and Hatyshche.
“Our troops are carrying out counterattacks there for a second day, protecting Ukrainian territory,” he said.
The Institute for the Study of War confirmed on Friday that geolocated footage shows at least one of the villages was taken. The Washington-based think tank described recent Russian gains as "tactically significant."
The renewed attack on the region has led to more than 1,700 civilians living in settlements near the fighting to flee, according to Ukrainian authorities. This comes after Russia intensified attacks in March targeting energy infrastructure and settlements, which analysts anticipated were a concerted effort by Moscow to shape conditions for an offensive.
On Saturday, Russia continued to bombard Vovchansk with airstrikes and Grad rockets as police and volunteers hurried to evacuate residents. At least 20 people were taken to safety in a neighboring village. Police reported that 900 people had been evacuated the previous day.
AP reporters who accompanied an evacuation team observed empty streets with multiple buildings destroyed and others on fire. The road was filled with newly formed craters and the city was covered in dust and shrapnel with the smell of gunpowder heavy in the air. Mushroom clouds of smoke rose across the skyline as Russian jets carried out multiple airstrikes.
The AP reporters witnessed nine air attacks during the three hours they were there.
“The situation in Vovchansk and the settlements along the border (with Russia) is incredibly difficult. Constant aviation strikes are carried out, multiple rocket missile systems strikes, artillery strikes,” said Tamaz Hambarashvili, the head of the Vovchansk military administration.
“For the second day in a row, we evacuated all the inhabitants of our community who are willing to evacuate,” he said. “I think that they are destroying the city to make (local) people leave, to make sure there are no militaries, nobody. To create a ‘gray zone.’”
Evacuees said tearful goodbyes to their neighbors as they were taken away from their homes.
“You lie down and think — whether they will kill you now, or in an hour, or in three,” said resident Valentyna Hrevnova, 75. “I hope that they (Russians) will not come, but ours (Ukrainians) will be here.”
Vera Rudko, 72, was one of those who departed.
“We drove through Vovchansk in the city center,” Rudko said. “I can’t look at this without tears. Everything is shaking. We didn’t sleep these two nights at all.”
Russia’s recent advance in Kharkiv aims to take advantage of low ammunition before pledged Western supplies can reach the front line, and trap Ukrainian forces in the northeast, keeping them away from heavy battles happening in the Donetsk region where Moscow’s troops are making progress, experts said.
Russian military bloggers said the attack could be the beginning of a Russian effort to create a “buffer zone” that President Vladimir Putin promised to establish earlier this year to stop frequent Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod and other Russian border regions. There are also concerns that without enough supplies, Russia might even be able to block supply routes and surround the city of Kharkiv, where 1.1 million people live.
Ukrainian officials have played down Russian claims about captured territory, with reinforcements being quickly sent to the Kharkiv region to resist Russian forces.
On Telegram, Kharkiv region Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said that intense fighting continued in the areas around Borysivka, Ohirtseve, Pylna and Oliinykove, but that the situation was under control and there was no threat of a ground attack on the city of Kharkiv.
Meanwhile, artillery, mortar and aerial bombings struck more than 30 different towns and villages in the region on Saturday, killing at least three people and injuring five others, Syniehubov said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed Friday evening that Russian forces were expanding their operations. He also urged the country’s Western allies to ensure that promised deliveries of military aid would quickly reach the front lines.
“It is crucial that partners support our fighters and Ukrainian resilience with prompt deliveries. Truly prompt ones,” he said in a video statement on X. “A package that genuinely helps is the actual delivery of weapons to Ukraine, rather than just the announcement of a package.”
The assault was launched from two areas in the Kharkiv region early Friday, Ukrainian officials and analysts said. Russian assault groups tried to breach Ukrainian defensive lines in the city of Vovchansk and in the region north of the village of Lyptsi.
Separately, Ukrainian forces also launched a barrage of drones and missiles on Friday night, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said, with air defense systems shooting down 21 rockets and 16 drones over Russia’s Belgorod, Kursk and Volgograd regions. One person died in a drone strike in the Belgorod region, and another in the Kursk region, local officials said.
Another attack ignited an oil depot in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Luhansk region, killing four people and injuring eight more, Leonid Pasechnik, the region’s Moscow-installed leader, said on the messaging app Telegram on Saturday.
There was also shelling in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region Saturday, where three people died when an explosion hit a local restaurant, said Denis Pushilin, the area’s Kremlin-appointed leader. Eight more people were wounded, including a child.
Russia attempted to quickly take control of Kharkiv in the early days of the war, but pulled back after about a month. In the fall of 2022, Ukraine's army successfully removed them from Kharkiv, which convinced Western countries that Ukraine could win against Russia and deserved military aid.
