Eastern Ukraine campaign

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated yesterday on television that nearly 700,000 Russian military personnel are currently engaged in the offensive in Ukraine, as reported by AFP.

Russia on Monday claimed the capture of another village in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, the latest in a string of gains ahead of a major Ukraine summit in Switzerland.

Foreign journalists report from an observation point while smoke rises after a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, May 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Ukraine said Friday it had halted a Russian ground offensive in Kharkiv and was now attacking Moscow's forces that mounted a surprise assault on the border region this month.

Russian strikes on Ukraine's second-largest city Kharkiv killed at least seven people, authorities said Thursday, as Moscow claimed fresh advances on the front line.

Russia said Wednesday that its forces had retaken Klishchiivka, one of a handful of villages on the eastern front that Ukraine claimed back in a 2023 counteroffensive.

Russia's forces have in recent weeks made their biggest territorial gains in the war-battered east in the last 18 months as Ukraine waits for desperately-needed U.S. and European weapon supplies.

Russian drones have targeted energy facilities in northern Ukraine's Sumy region, resulting in power outages in several areas, according to regional authorities cited by Reuters.

Ukrainian troops are achieving "tangible" results against Russian forces in the hotspot northeastern Kharkiv region but the frontline situation is "extremely difficult" elsewhere, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday.

Russia launched a fresh assault on Kharkiv on May 10 and has since captured several small settlements in its biggest advance in 18 months.

Ukrainian aerial attacks killed a woman in the Russian border region of Belgorod and a man in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, officials announced Tuesday.

The village of Bilohorivka in the Luhansk region of Ukraine has reportedly been seized by the Russian army, according to a statement from the Ministry of Defense in Moscow quoted by "France Presse." This development marks a significant territorial gain for Russian forces, as Bilohorivka was one of the few remaining settlements in the district under Ukrainian control.

Ukraine battled Thursday to "stabilise" the front line in the northeast Kharkiv region, where Moscow has made its largest territorial gains in 18 months after launching an offensive last week.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said more reinforcements had been sent to the area, and the Ukrainian army said it had partially halted Russia's advance.