Russia launched a push on the northeastern Ukrainian region on Friday.
Russian forces are making „tactically significant gains“ in areas of Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region where Kyiv likely has fewer defenses, according to a new assessment, after Moscow launched a push across the border on Friday.
„Russian forces are conducting relatively limited offensive operations along the Russian-Ukrainian border in northern Kharkiv Oblast and continued to make tactically significant gains in likely less defended areas,“ the U.S. think tank, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said on Saturday.
On Friday, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had „tried to expand operations“ against Ukrainian forces. Kyiv was quickly sending reinforcements to positions in the Kharkiv region, which borders Russia, the president said.
In its initial invasion in early 2022, Russia claimed swathes of territory in northeastern Ukraine, including parts of the Kharkiv region.
