Weekly Ukraine war summary: Kharkiv border region “comes into motion,” record long-range drone attack on Russian territory

Despite these advances, Russian pro-war media are urging their followers and colleagues not to describe the operation as an assault on the city of Kharkiv.

Self-styled Russian “military correspondent” Alexander Kots noted that “the borderland has come into motion,” but warned his readers against feelings of false optimism. Propagandist Anastasia Kashevarova, meanwhile, fiercely criticized so-called “couch butchers” for writing about the “capture of Kharkiv.”

Analysts, for their part, believe (1, 2) that the forces available to the Russian side are insufficient to storm the city of Kharkiv and suggest that the offensive is meant to serve as a diversion aimed at drawing away Ukrainian reserves from other parts of the front. One Ukrainian military channel compared the Russian army’s recent actions in Kharkiv Oblast to the raids carried out by the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) and Freedom of Russia Legion (LSR) — paramilitary units comprised of Russian nationals fighting on the Ukrainian side — in Russia’s Kursk, Bryansk, and Belgorod regions.

The slow advance of the Russian army continued throughout the week on other parts of the front. In the Avdiivka operational area, Russian forces managed to fully occupy Arkhangelske and Ocheretyne, and also to enter Netailove and Umanske. However, Russian and Ukrainian channels alike write that the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) managed to “curtail a breakthrough” from Ocheretyne, which threatened the H 32 (T0504) highway between Kostiantynivka and Pokrovsk. Russian forces are currently located within approximately 10 kilometers of the highway. To the south, Russian forces are advancing in Krasnohorivka, but have been forced to defend against Ukrainian counterattacks in the center of Heorhiivka.