Russia sends reinforcements to Kharkiv after a breach by Ukrainian forces
On Friday, the Russian army announced sending reinforcements towards Kharkiv, Ukraine, in response to a breach by Ukrainian forces in this area on the border with Russia.
Kyiv announced Thursday that it had recaptured about 1,000 square kilometers in this region in northeastern Ukraine in recent days, especially the city of Balaklia, in addition to about twenty towns.
"It is a difficult task, but we are making progress," Ukraine's chief of staff, Valery Zaluzhny, said on Telegram.
In the town of Garkov near Kharkiv that was retaken from Russian forces two days ago, AFP reporters Friday saw the devastation that bears witness to the fierceness of the battles, as police began to exhume the bodies of two possibly victims of a Russian war crime.
"It was frightening. The shelling and explosions were everywhere," Anatoly Vasiliev, 61, one of the few residents who remained in Garkov, told AFP.
Despite the gains of Ukrainian forces, the governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleg Sengopov, urged residents who had left not to return due to an electricity and gas crisis in the towns recaptured from the Russians.
For its part, Russian media reported the deployment of reinforcements in this direction and broadcast videos showing armored vehicles, artillery and trucks traveling in large numbers on unspecified roads.
Moscow did not comment on this deployment and only mentioned the heavy losses inflicted on the Ukrainian forces by the Russian army as a whole.
From Brussels, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Moscow's deployment of reinforcements showed Russia was paying a "heavy price".
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