Ukraine says it repelled Russia’s attempt to cross the border

Ukraine says it repelled a Russian tank attack in the northeastern Kharkiv region after Moscow forces launched an incursion across the border and tried to break through defense lines.

The head of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said Russian reconnaissance groups had tried to enter the border, adding that “not a single meter was lost.”

“Ukraine met them there with troops: brigades and artillery,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a news conference.

Ukrainian commanders have been anticipating a summer offensive for some time, possibly even an attempt to take the regional capital Kharkiv. But officials are adamant that Russia does not have the resources to do so.

Russia is capable of aggravating the situation in the border areas, but is unable to take Ukraine’s second-largest city, said the head of the Ukrainian Center for Combating Disinformation, Andri Kovalenko.

Friday’s two small raids across the Russian border form a familiar but worrying axis for Ukrainian forces.

The Defense Ministry in Kiev said the attack began with heavy bombing of small settlements. Russian airstrikes attacked Vovchansk “with guided aerial bombs” and artillery support before small Russian “reconnaissance groups” moved in.

The local leader in Vovchansk said the city had been under heavy attacks since the early hours of Friday and civilians were being evacuated. At least one person was killed and five others were injured in the barrage, Mr. Syniehubov said.

“At around 05:00 there was an attempt by the enemy to break through our defensive line under the protection of armored vehicles. So far these attacks have been repelled, fighting of varying intensity continues,” the Defense Ministry said.

Heavy fighting continues and civilians are being evacuated from Vovchansk district as reserve troops move in, officials added.

Moscow is trying to capitalize on the delayed arrival of American ammunition and weapons by continuing to advance in the eastern Donetsk region.

The return of heavy fighting in the northeast highlights Russia’s growing confidence and ambitions.

Ukraine’s deputy military intelligence chief, Major General Vadyn Skibitsky, told The Economist last week that Russia was preparing to attack both Kharkiv and the northern Sumy region. This warning was reiterated by the commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, Lieutenant General Oleksandr Pavliuk.

Tens of thousands of Russian forces are said to have gathered at the border.

One could be forgiven for a repeat of 2022, when Russia failed to take Kharkiv and Sumy in the first weeks of its full-scale invasion.

But at least outwardly, officials and generals do not believe that either city could fall.

Russia was unable to capture either city when it had a larger and better trained military force than it does today. Ukrainian sources estimate that about 90% of the original 150,000-strong army is either dead or wounded.

Military commentator Oleksandr Kovalenko has pointed out that after months of bombing, Russia needed about 80,000 soldiers to take the small eastern town of Avdiivka last February. Big cities like Sumy and Kharkiv are on a completely different scale, he said.

Second, Russia has talked about creating a buffer zone between its Belgorod region and Ukraine.

That’s because Ukrainian troops have continued to launch artillery attacks on Russian territory, to the nervousness of some Western allies.