Ukraine evacuates 4,000 people from besieged Kharkiv border region
Thousands of residents of the eastern Ukrainian border region of Kharkiv are being evacuated to safety amid Russia's current offensive operations there.
Around 4,000 people had already left the area in the last two days, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram on Sunday.
Many of them were able to stay with friends and relatives, while accommodation was being provided for others, he said. Syniehubov also published photos of people who had gathered at assembly points with luggage and some with pets.
More than two years after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour, Ukraine is experiencing acute difficulties in defending itself. This is partly due to the recent delays in supplies of US military equipment and ammunition.
Russian troops launched an offensive in the border region towards Kharkiv in the early hours of Friday, prompting fears of a campaign to seize Ukraine's second largest city.
Russia's Defence Ministry says several Ukrainian border villages near the town of Vovchansk were captured. On Sunday, Moscow said that four further villages were taken.
Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi has described the situation there as "difficult."
"This week, the situation in the Kharkiv region has significantly worsened," Syrskyi wrote on Telegram on Sunday. "There are ongoing battles in the border areas along the state border with the Russian Federation."
While admitting that the situation is "difficult" and that Russian attackers had achieved "partial successes" in some areas, he said, "Ukrainian defence forces are doing everything they can to hold defensive lines and positions."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has repeatedly called for more international help in the defence of his country, recently declared that stopping the Russian offensive in Kharkiv was now "objective number one."
Just across the border in the Russian region of Belgorod, a multi-storey residential building was severely damaged in an attack, Russia's Defence Ministry announced on Sunday. At least six people were killed in the attack, it said.
The ministry said that the building had been hit by falling debris from a Ukrainian Tochka U missile. This could not be independently verified at first.
The governor of the region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said at least 19 people were injured. Initial reports that there were also fatalities were not confirmed.
Photos of one destroyed vertical section of a much larger block of flats were published on social networks. According to media reports, people may still be trapped under the rubble. A missile alert had been triggered earlier in the day in the region.
There was initially no official reaction from the Ukrainian side. However, some Ukrainian media have cast doubt on the Russian account. The Ukrinform agency, citing an expert, wrote that the destruction visible in the photos suggested that the building could have been deliberately blown up by Russia to provoke and justify its own attacks.
A fire also broke out at an oil refinery in southern Russia following a drone attack, an official said on Sunday.
The night-time raid in the Volgograd region was repelled by the Russian air defences, Governor Andrey Botsharov wrote on Telegram.
However, the falling drone detonated and caused a fire on the refinery site, which has since been extinguished. There were no casualties, the governor said.
Moscow has been waging a full-scale war against Ukraine for more than two years. To disrupt Russia's infrastructure and reduce its war revenues, the Ukrainians have in turn repeatedly targeted oil refineries hundreds of kilometres deep inside the country.
