“Violent” Russian attacks are testing Ukraine’s defenses near its second-largest city

• Russia has launched a major attack in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region.
• Kiev said Russia was pounding positions with guided bombs, artillery and armored attacks.
• Zelensky said Ukrainian forces had responded to the attack but that “a fierce battle was underway.”

Russian forces have launched a new attack in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, using artillery, bombs and armored vehicles to break through Kiev’s defense lines.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said On Friday, he said he had so far managed to repel Russia’s attacks, but noted that “fighting of varying intensity is ongoing.” Kiev said its forces would defend strongholds in the Kharkiv region and reserve units had been deployed to the area. There are fears that this could be part of a renewed attack on the city of Kharkiv, which Russia failed to capture in the early months of the war.

According to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Moscow’s forces used targeted airstrikes last day to carry out attacks around Vovchansk, a small town near the border with Russia. The city lies dozens of miles northwest of the front.

On Thursday evening, Russia increased the pressure by shelling Ukraine’s first defense lines with artillery, the Defense Ministry said. Moscow attempted to break through the lines with armored vehicles early this morning.

“Ukraine met them there with our troops, brigades and artillery. It is important that they can strengthen their forces and bring more troops in this direction. This is a fact,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the attack during a press conference on Friday with his Slovak counterpart in Kiev.

“But our army and military command were aware of this and calculated their capabilities to meet the enemy with fire. Now a fierce battle is underway,” Zelensky added.

The Russian attack raises fears that the war, long waged in eastern and southern Ukraine, could spread to a new front in the north, testing Ukraine’s defenses for weaknesses. It also follows warnings from officials and experts that Moscow has been building up troops in the region.

Russian airstrikes and grenade attacks over several days were able to locate and hit Ukrainian positions. “In the worst case scenario, it creates favorable conditions for the use of armored vehicles,” wrote Dara Massicot, a Russian military expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, on X.

Analysts at the think tank Institute for the Study of War written down that the new operation is unlikely to result in Russia taking Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, which has been subjected to heavy airstrikes in recent weeks. The analysts said Moscow lacked enough troops in the area and had not tried to attack the city from multiple directions. However, this could change in the future.

Instead, Russia’s ongoing operation likely has other objectives, the analysts said. This includes detaining Ukrainian forces in the northeast to allow Moscow to advance in other parts of the front line, as well as creating a buffer zone in the region. This could allow Russia to defend itself against cross-border raids.

Andrii Kovalenko, head of the counter-disinformation department at Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said the Russian attack resembled a simulated large-scale attack with limited combat reconnaissance forces.

Moscow has lost troops and equipment, Kovalenko wrote on the messaging app Telegram. Business Insider could not immediately confirm this.