Russia Says Fighting Continues for Control of Four Settlements in Kharkov Region

Dragon Media News Desk

The Russian Defense Ministry said Russian forces were fighting to gain control of the settlements of Varvarovka, Nikolayevka, Lobanovka and Reznikovo in the Kharkov Region. According to the ministry, the Battlegroup North is tightening its encirclement in the northeastern area and expanding its zone of control.

The ministry said operations against encircled Ukrainian troops were continuing near Rublenoye, Nefedovka, Kupino and Chernoye. It also claimed that fighting was underway near Prikolotnoye and Annopolye as Russian forces expanded their zone of control, and that Ukrainian troops were being targeted in Berezhnoye, Podsredneye, Kurgannoye and Maly Burluk.

According to the ministry, assault units of Russia’s 51st Army advanced in the northern and central parts of Dobropolye in the Donetsk People’s Republic. The ministry said marine units had cleared the eastern residential areas and advanced towards the northern part of the city. It also claimed that Russian forces had taken control of 53 buildings in a single day and that up to 20 Ukrainian troops had been killed.

The Russian Defense Ministry said air-defense systems had downed four guided aerial bombs, three US-made HIMARS multiple-launch rocket system projectiles and 1,222 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles over the past day. Since the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, the ministry claimed, 674 aircraft, 284 helicopters, 252,053 unmanned aerial vehicles, 672 air-defense systems, 31,121 tanks and other armoured vehicles, 1,784 multiple-launch rocket system combat vehicles, 36,624 field artillery guns and mortars, and 73,568 military vehicles had been destroyed.