“More than 30,000 Russian soldiers are engaged in a new offensive in Ukraine northeast of Moscow, near the country’s second city, Kharkiv, which is “not under threat,” the secretary of the Ukrainian Security Council told AFP on Monday.
Russian soldiers were transported on top of a BMP armored vehiclePhoto: Evgeny Biyatov / Associated Press / Profimedia Images
“About 50,000 (Russian soldiers) were on the border. Now there are more than 30,000 attacks in the region since Friday,” Oleksandr Litvinenko told AFP in an interview, adding that at this stage “there is no threat of an attack on the city of Kharkiv”.
According to Ukrainian estimates, the Russian army suffered its worst daily casualties of the entire war on Sunday – 1,740 soldiers killed or wounded. The total stockpile reached 484,030, according to the Ministry of Defense in Kiev.
The Ukrainian military said on Monday it had blocked Russian forces near the village of Lukyantsi from advancing north into the Kharkiv region, where they had a “partial victory”.
More than 30 areas were attacked by the Russians
“More than thirty towns in northeastern Ukraine were attacked on Monday by Russia, which continues its new offensive in the Kharkiv region, covering tens of thousands of square kilometers of territory in a few days with fire and enemy mortars,” regional governor Oleh Sinihubov wrote on social media. A total of 5,762 residents have been evacuated from these areas since the fighting began. He said.
In a post on the Ukrainian General Staff Telegram, Reuters reported that Russian troops were continuing offensive operations and that Ukraine would continue to reinforce its forces depending on the situation.
So far, October 19, 2023, the darkest day for Moscow’s military in Ukraine, has put the number of dead and wounded at 1,380, according to Russian casualty data compiled by the website. minfin.com.ua.
The news comes as Russia began an offensive on Ukraine’s border region of Kharkiv on Friday, and offensive attempts against prepared defensive positions typically result in high casualties among attacking forces.
Kiev’s military said late Sunday that Russian forces attacking northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region had entered combat on the outskirts of the border city of Vovsansk, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy said heavy fighting was taking place there and in the east.
Russia said Sunday it was advancing in the Kharkiv region, seizing four more towns near the border as part of an offensive launched Friday that has led to the evacuation of more than 4,000 people.
Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Chirsky said of the new offensive in the region that “the situation is difficult” and that Kiev’s forces were doing everything they could to prevent the Russians from breaking through the defense lines.
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