Zelensky says situation stable around Kharkiv

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has described the situation in Kharkiv as stable during a visit to the region, which has come under renewed attack by Russia.

"As of today, the situation in the Kharkiv region is generally controllable, our fighters are inflicting noticeable losses on the occupiers," he wrote on his Telegram channel on Thursday.

Zelensky said reinforcements are to be deployed to the Kharkiv region.

The Ukrainian general staff said in its latest situation report that there had been successes in slowing down the major Russian offensive that had been underway for almost a week.

"The enemy's plans to penetrate as deep as possible into the urban neighbourhood of Vovchansk and entrench themselves there were thwarted," the report said. Fighting was taking place in the northern part of the city, which is only five kilometres from the border with Russia. The general staff also declared that the situation was under control.

Russian troops began a ground offensive in the Kharkiv border region at the end of last week. According to independent observers, the pace of the offensive has slowed considerably after initial rapid territorial gains. Russian troops have not penetrated more than 8 kilometres into Ukrainian territory, according to the latest estimates by experts from the US think tank ISW.