News Feed

Military: Russia's Kharkiv Oblast operation aims to divert Ukrainian forces from Donetsk Oblast

2 min read
Military: Russia's Kharkiv Oblast operation aims to divert Ukrainian forces from Donetsk Oblast
Ukrainian soldiers ride on an armoured vehicle in Novostepanivka, Kharkiv Oblast, on Sept. 19, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images) 

The uptick in Russia's activity at Kharkiv Oblast's border is part of a psychological operation aimed at pulling Ukrainian forces away from hot areas in the east, Nazar Voloshyn, the spokesperson of the Khortytsia group of forces, told the Hromadske media outlet on May 10.

Rather than conducting a serious offensive campaign in the north of Kharkiv Oblast, "Russia is trying to pull our (Ukrainian) forces and resources from Donetsk Oblast to Kharkiv Oblast," Voloshyn told Hromadske.

Early on May 10, Ukraine's Defense Ministry reported that Russian forces launched an attempt to break through in Kharkiv Oblast. President Volodymyr Zelensky later confirmed that Russia was carrying out new offensive operations in the area.

"Ukrainian defense forces and military units have the situation under control," Voloshyn said.

Article image
Subscribe to newsletter
War Notes

While Ukrainian media reported that Russia captured four border villages and is attempting to advance toward Vovchansk, officials said that no ground was lost at the moment.

Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the counter-disinformation department at Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said the Russian operation resembles a simulation of a large-scale attack or reconnaissance-in-force.

Amid the news of fresh hostilities in Kharkiv Oblast, Voloshyn reported that Russian forces are unsuccessfully trying to break through in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, namely near the Serebryanskyi forest and in the Lyman area.

Official: Russia’s Kharkiv Oblast operations resemble ‘simulation of large-scale attack’
Russia’s recently launched operations in Kharkiv Oblast look like a simulation of a large-scale attack with the use of limited resources or reconnaissance-in-force, a senior Ukrainian official said on May 10.
Article image
Avatar
Martin Fornusek

Senior News Editor

Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.

Read more
News Feed

U.S. President Donald Trump's remarks come after the Financial Times (FT) reported, citing undisclosed sources, that he asked President Volodymyr Zelensky whether Kyiv could strike Moscow or St. Petersburg if provided with long-range U.S. weapons.

"The stolen data includes confidential questionnaires of the company's employees, and most importantly, full technical documentation on the production of drones, which was handed over to the relevant specialists of the Ukrainian Defense Forces," a source in Ukraine's military intelligence told the Kyiv Independent.

Show More