Russia's Kharkiv Push Sparks Alarm in Ukraine

Russian forces launched a new cross-border offensive into northeastern Ukraine early on Friday, Kyiv announced, in what may mark the beginning of a new major operation imperiling the country's second-largest city of Kharkiv.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said the attack was repelled but that "battles of varying intensity" are ongoing at several points along the border with reserves deployed.

"The defense forces of Ukraine continue to hold back the enemy's offensive," the ministry wrote on Telegram.

It said that the assault was preceded by a series of airstrikes and increased artillery fire before an "attempt by the enemy to break through our defense line under the cover of armored vehicles" at around 5 a.m. local time.

The effort was focused on the area around the border town of Vovchan, the ministry said, which sits some 30 miles northeast of Kharkiv. The evacuation of civilians in the area is now underway.

The pro-Kyiv DeepState Telegram channel, which maps battlefield developments, said Russian forces are "trying to enter and gain a foothold in a number of settlements along the border."

"The available resources used by the enemy at the moment will not be enough for a deep advance," DeepState wrote. "Currently, the situation is such that the enemy is destabilizing the border areas. But it is not known how many main forces he is ready to use for this maneuver."

Ukrainian analyst Taras Berezovets wrote on Telegram that "not a single meter has been lost. The enemy group does not pose a threat to Kharkiv, its forces are sufficient only for provocations in the northern direction."

Newsweek reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry via email for comment.

Pro-war Russian military bloggers suggested that the drive may be intended to set the stage for the taking of Kharkiv or simply to sow "panic" among the more than 1 million residents of the city.

Some channels also suggested that the intention may be to create a buffer zone along the border to prevent further raids into Russia by Ukrainian-aligned formations.

Oleksandr Merezhko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament and the chair of the body's foreign affairs committee, told Newsweek from Kyiv that the "Russians want to scare people living in Kharkiv to cause a wave of refugees."

The city has been under near-constant attack since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, sustaining significant damage and casualties from Russian shelling, missile, and drone attacks.

"I don't think that Russians have enough military capabilities to take Kharkiv," Merezhko added. "They can do it only if they manage to completely destroy the city, to make it look like Stalingrad or Aleppo. Attempting to take it, they will have huge casualties."

Ukraine has been bracing for an expected Russian summer offensive while also trying to slow Moscow's grinding advance in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Kharkiv—a major industrial, cultural, and political Ukrainian center—is thought to be among the Kremlin's top strategic goals.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov suggested this week that Moscow should prioritize Kharkiv and the southern port city of Odesa in any coming offensive. He argued for taking the cities and then forcing Ukraine into a peace deal.

"We must take Odesa and Kharkiv," he said while attending Russian President Vladimir Putin's inauguration ceremony.

Merezhko linked the nascent Kharkiv push to the beginning of Putin's fifth presidential term, secured in a March election carefully managed by the Kremlin.

"He has become more aggressive and views the so-called 'elections' as a mandate to continue aggression," Merezhko said of the Russian leader. "He understands that the only way he can save himself from a coup d'etat or criminal responsibility is to win a war."

"To him, it's a matter of life or death. That is why he will concentrate all his efforts on the war of aggression against Ukraine."

Update 5/10/24, 7:41 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.