Ukraine war maps reveal frontline positions reconquered by kyiv near Kharkiv

Ukraine has regained territory northeast of Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, according to new reports, as Russia continues its attacks on the battered border town of Vovchansk.

Reports from Ukrainian military sources and Russian military blogs suggest that Kiev troops have recaptured some positions near Hlyboke, a village close to the Lyptsi settlement, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said on Tuesday ), a think tank based in the United States. .

Russia launched a cross-border offensive from its Belgorod region into Ukraine's Kharkiv region in early May, quickly gaining a handful of settlements along two stretches of the border. Moscow's efforts have been focused around the village of Lyptsi – about 32 kilometers from the regional capital, the city of Kharkiv – and the border town of Vovchansk.

Ukraine said it had managed to slow Russia's assault, while warning that Moscow was trying to overburden Ukraine's resources and divert its efforts away from the eastern Donetsk region. Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syniehubov this week described the front line in northern Kharkiv as “stabilized” but warned that while Ukraine can be “confident” in operations around Lyptsi, ” fighting continues for every street, for every house » Vovchansk.

Ukraine also faces incessant Russian guided aerial bombardments, often launched by Russian aircraft confined to Russian territory and away from Ukrainian air defenses.

The United States gave Ukraine the green light last month to use some U.S.-supplied weapons on internationally recognized Russian soil to repel the offensive, although kyiv is not allowed to use its weapons systems. long-range tactical military missiles (ATACMS).

Vitaly Lytvyn, an officer in an intelligence unit of Ukraine's National Guard, said earlier this week that kyiv had “pushed back the enemy a little” from Lyptsi, adding that “the situation is stable, controlled, but difficult.”

Russia “constantly carries out airstrikes with guided aerial bombs,” Lytvyn added.

“Our forces are gradually pushing the occupier out of the Kharkiv region,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday.

In an operational update on Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said its forces had “improved the situation along the front line” and targeted Ukrainian positions around Lyptsi, Vovchansk and the southern village of Starytsia. -west of Vovchansk.

The Center for Defense Strategies, a Ukraine-based think tank, said Tuesday the situation was “tense” in northern Kharkiv, with 14 Russian attacks near Vovchansk the day before and another near Lyptsi.

The Ukrainian military said Wednesday afternoon local time that Russian troops had attacked the northern Kharkiv region three times since the start of the day, including two near Vovchansk.

“Russian forces have recently advanced inside Vovchansk as Russian ground attacks continue in the region on June 18,” the ISW think tank said on Tuesday.

Ukrainian military sources said earlier this week that Ukrainian soldiers were working to surround and isolate Russian troops at an aggregates factory north of Vovchansk. This information was disputed by several Russian sources.

Yurii Povkh, spokesperson for the Kharkiv Ukrainian Strategic Operational Group operating in the region, said Ukrainian Pravda that “dozens” of Russian soldiers had been “isolated in a specific area of ​​the city”.

A Russian soldier, appearing in a clip published by the independent Russian newspaper Astra over the weekend, said that just over 10 percent of the troops in his unit remained after facing Ukrainian artillery fire and drones at Vovchansk.

Fighting further south in Kharkiv, notably east of the town of Kupiansk and up to the border with Donetsk, lasted much of the large-scale war.

“The enemy has not eased the pressure” around Kupiansk, Syniehubov told the Ukrainian news agency. Ukrinform Tuesday.