Image Credits- CNN
Russian military forces have announced new territorial gains in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, claiming to have liberated five villages from Ukrainian control.
According to a statement from Russia’s Ministry of Defence, units belonging to the ‘Sever’ (North) Battlegroup have freed the settlements of Borisovka, Ogurtsovo, Pletenevka, Pylnaya and Strelechya.
“Units from the Sever Battlegroup have freed the settlements of Borisovka, Ogurtsovo, Pletenevka, Pylnaya and Strelechya in the Kharkiv region,” the ministry said.
The claimed captures represent incremental advances by Russian troops in the hotly contested Kharkiv oblast near the Russian border. Control of the region could potentially allow Moscow’s forces to secure a land corridor to occupied territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
However, Ukrainian officials have not confirmed the status of the five named villages, and both sides have frequently made competing claims over captured territory amid the intense fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Fierce battles have raged in the Kharkiv region as Ukrainian forces mount a counteroffensive to dislodge the Russian military from occupied areas and push them back across the border. Russia, meanwhile, is determined to hold and expand its territorial gains.
The announcement comes as some of the deadliest combat of the 15-month war continues to unfold, with Ukrainian officials estimating up to 500 Russian soldiers being killed or wounded daily in the Donbas offensive alone.
For Russia, the liberation of even smaller villages and settlements takes on outsized propaganda importance as it seeks to claim victories in what it calls its ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine.
Independent verification of territorial changes and casualties remains extremely difficult due to the active combat situation. But both sides have framed the battle for the Kharkiv region as a pivotal struggle that could help turn the tide of the broader conflict.