Russian forces capture second village near Vovchansk in Kharkiv region
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The Russian Defense Ministry says units of the northern troop group captured the village of Starytsya in the Kharkiv region.
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Smoke rises after a strike in Kharkiv, on Friday, May 17, 2024. (AP)
Russia said Saturday it had captured a village near Vovchansk in the Kharkiv region, where it launched a new offensive last week.
"Units of the northern troop group liberated the village of Starytsya in the Kharkiv region, and continued to advance deep into the enemy's defences," the Russian Defense Ministry stated.
The village is located just five kilometers from the border with Russia.
Moscow said its forces had captured "12 settlements in the Kharkiv region over the last week... and continues to advance deep into enemy defences."
The Ukrainian governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleg Synegubov, said Russian forces were gaining ground near Lukyantsi, a village around 20 kilometers (12 miles) northeast of Kharkiv city.
Kiev said its forces "were focusing their main efforts on preventing" the Russian forces from advancing.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a trip to China this week the northeastern offensive was in retaliation for Ukraine's shelling of border regions and that Moscow was trying to create a "security zone".
Putin said there was no intention at this stage to take Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, about 30 kilometers from the border.
The Russian military said it intercepted or downed more than 100 Ukrainian drones over the south of the country, Crimea and the Black Sea.
Officials in multiple Russian regions reported damage.
One drone struck a family driving near the border in the Belgorod region, killing a mother and her four-year-old son, the region's governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
On his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told AFP in an exclusive interview he expects Russia to step up its offensive in the northeast and warned that Kiev only has a quarter of the air defenses it needs to hold the front line.
"I won't say it's a great success (for Russia) but we have to be sober and understand that they are going deeper into our territory," he said on Friday.
Zelensky claimed the situation in Kharkiv has been "controlled" but "not stabilised".
He reiterated pleas to allies to send more air defense and fighter jets to combat Russia's air superiority, saying, "Today, we have about 25 percent of what we need to defend Ukraine."
Ukraine needs "120 to 130" F-16 fighter jets or other advanced aircraft to achieve air "parity" with Russia, the Ukrainian leader emphasized.
Read more: Russian forces seize control of sections of Vovchansk in Kharkiv
