Russia-Ukraine war live: Kyiv sends reinforcements to Kharkiv and evacuates civilians as Russian forces advance.

By Guardian- Jane Clinton - Fri 10 May 2024 13.33 BST

Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Fears grew in March over the Kremlin’s intentions in Kharkiv region when Russian President Vladimir Putin called for the creation of a buffer zone inside Ukrainian territory that he said was needed to protect Russia.

Ukraine chased Russian troops out of most of Kharkiv region in 2022, the first year of full-scale war, but after weathering Kyiv’s counteroffensive last year, Russia forces are back on the offensive and slowly advancing in the Donetsk region further south, reports Reuters.

Since then, Kharkiv, which is particularly vulnerable because of its proximity to Russia, has been hammered by air strikes that have caused major damage to the region’s power infrastructure.

More than two years into the invasion, Moscow has the battlefield momentum and Ukraine faces shortages of manpower and stocks of artillery shells and air defences.

Share1h ago12.30 BST

Vovchansk assault 'could be move to carve out a buffer zone'

Analysts said the assault on Vovchansk could mark the start of a Russian attempt to carve out a “buffer zone”, according to Associated Press. Vladimir Putin had vowed to create such an area earlier this year to halt frequent Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod and other Russian border regions.

Ukraine had previously said it was aware that Russia was assembling thousands of troops along the northeastern border, close to the Kharkiv and Sumy regions. While the Kremlin’s forces have made their most recent ground thrust in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian intelligence officials said they expected the Kremlin’s forces to attack in the northeast, too.

Though Russia likely can’t capture Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, it could compel Ukraine to send more troops to the region, leaving other areas more vulnerable to attack, according to the AP report. Also, forcing Ukrainian authorities to evacuate civilians is likely to create disruption and divert resources.

“The entire town is under massive shelling now, it is not safe to stay here,” Vovchansk administration head Tamaz Hambarishvili told Ukraine’s Hromadske Radio.

The Ukrainian defence ministry said fighting against Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups continued into the afternoon.

ShareUpdated at 12.31 BST1h ago12.14 BST

Kyiv expects delivery of first F-16 jets in June or July - military source

A senior Ukrainian military source has told Reuters Kyiv expects the first F-16 jets to be delivered in June or July.

Ukraine has sought the US-made F-16 fighter jets to help it counter Russian air superiority during more than two years of war. The source did not say who would supply the jets

Share2h ago12.04 BST

Russian forces have advanced one kilometre into Kharkiv region near Vovchansk - military source

Russian forces have advanced one kilometre (0.62 mile) into Ukraine’s northeast Kharkiv region near Vovchansk, a high-ranking Ukrainian military source said on Friday.

According to Reuters, the source said the Russian military was aiming to advance as much as 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) into the region in an effort to establish a buffer zone. Ukrainian forces were fighting to hold back Moscow’s advance.

ShareUpdated at 12.13 BST2h ago11.42 BST

Ukraine sends reinforcements to Kharkiv region to repel Russian advances

More reports are coming to us on the situation in the Kharkiv region.

Ukraine defence ministry said on Friday that it has sent military reinforcements to help repel Russian attacks in border areas of the Kharkiv region in the northeast.

It added that Russian troops tried to break through with armoured vehicles in the early morning but were beaten back, Reuters reported.

The ministry said:

At approximately 5 am, there was an attempt by the enemy to break through our defensive line under the cover of armoured vehicles.

As of now, these attacks have been repulsed; battles of varying intensity continue.

Although Russia’s offensive is focused on the Donetsk region, Kyiv has noted a recent build up of troops near the Kharkiv region.

ShareUpdated at 11.56 BST2h ago11.24 BST

Civilians evacuated from Kharkiv region town of Vovchansk

Ukrainian civilians from the Kharkiv region town of Vovchansk and surrounding areas on Friday are being evacuated because of intensified Russian shelling, a local official said.

Tamaz Gambarashvili, head of the Vovchansk military administration, told Ukraine’s Hromadske radio:

The majority are leaving using their own transport. But at the same time, together with the humanitarian centre, we are organising transport for those who do not have cars.

Share2h ago11.09 BST

Russia’s Victory Day parade was ‘reduced in scale’ compared to pre-war events, UK's MoD says.

Russia’s Victory Day parade was “reduced in scale” compared to previous pre-war parades, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said.

Parades were cancelled in 24 cities, primarily those cities in the regions that border Ukraine likely owing to “poor security”. This compares to 21 cancelled parades in 2023, the MoD added.

Of the 30 units on pararade “over two thirds” were sourced from “military academies, youth and veteran groups”. Domestic security and emergency service grouos were also on parade. In total 9,000 military cadets, veterans and service personnel took part compared to 8,000 in 2023. In 2021, before the war in Ukraine, the participants totalled 11,000.

And there was an “absence of heavy armoured vehicles or tracked military vehicles” and there was just one main battle tank present compared to the 2020 parade which included 20.

The MoD said:

With the significant losses in Russian personnel and equipment as a result of the Ukraine war there was no opportunity for Russia to use the parades to demonstrate military strength.

Share3h ago10.18 BST

Russian forces tried to break through the border into Ukraine with sabotage groups as they stepped up shelling of Vovchansk town in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, Kharkiv’s governor said on Friday.

Oleh Syniehubov said on the Telegram messaging app that the attempts were repelled and Ukrainian forces were “confidently holding onto their positions and did not lose a single metre”, Reuters reported.

He said Russia did not have the resources to advance on the city of Kharkiv and its border actions were a “provocation”.

ShareUpdated at 10.44 BST4h ago09.21 BST

A Russian missile attack on Kharkiv injured two people and set three houses on fire in the early hours of Friday, Reuters has reported.

Two people, including an 11-year-old child, were shell-shocked, Governor Oleh Syniehubov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Mayor Ihor Terekhov said an S-300 missile crashed into the city, damaging 26 buildings, destroying two of them completely but he did not clarify what those buildings were.

A Reuters cameraman at the scene saw fires raging in what appeared to be residential homes at dawn. The emergency services raced to put out the fires, working among the rubble.

Russia launched two S-300/S-400 missiles at the region overnight, Ukrainian air force spokesperson Illya Yevlash said in a television broadcast. It was unclear where the second one landed.

Another guided bomb attack damaged around 25 buildings when it landed near an infrastructure facility in the town of Derhachi near the Russian border, Syniehubov said.

Share4h ago09.11 BST

Here are some images coming to us over the wires.

Share5h ago09.02 BST

Here is more from The Kyiv Independent on the attack on Nikopol in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast during which two people were killed.

ShareUpdated at 10.04 BST5h ago08.35 BST

Opening summary

Good morning and welcome to our live blog as the time passes 10am in Kyiv and Moscow.

Russian attacks across Ukraine have killed two people and injured 13 over the past day, regional authorities said. Civilian casualties in Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, and Donetsk oblasts were reported. Governor Serhiy Lysak said a Russian attack on Nikopol in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast killed a 62-year-old man and a 65-year-old woman and injured eight others, according to The Kyiv Independent.

This morning Vladimir Putin has reappointed Mikhail Mishustin as Russia’s prime minister with Associated Press reporting that the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, will hold a session later today to consider his candidacy. It writes that his approval is “a mere proforma in the Kremlin-controlled parliament”.

In line with Russian law, Mishustin, 58, who held the job for the past four years, submitted his Cabinet’s resignation on Tuesday when Putin began his fifth presidential term at a glittering Kremlin inauguration.

AP notes that his reappointment was “widely expected” and say Putin “values his skills and lack of political ambition. Mishustin, the former head of Russia’s tax service, has kept a low profile, steering clear of political statements and avoiding media interviews.”

Meanwhile Reuters says that there is no indication that Putin plans a big reshuffle of the government, which includes veteran Sergei Shoigu, in charge of Russia’s defence since 2012, and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in charge of Russia’s diplomacy for two decades. Analysts say that keeping his government intact would send a message of stability and of Putin’s satisfaction with his team’s progress at home and abroad, Reuters reports.

However, there has been upheaval in Kyiv where the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, last night dismissed the head of the department responsible for his personal protection on Thursday, two days after two of its members were accused of plotting to assassinate him. Zelenskiy issued a decree dismissing the head of the state guards, Serhiy Rud. No successor was identified.

In other news:

• Ukraine destroyed all 10 drones as Russia launched an overnight attack in the Kharkiv region, but two people were injured and residential buildings were consumed by fire as a result, Ukrainian officials said on Friday. The air force said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that Russia also launched two anti-aircraft guided missiles.
• A Ukraine drone attack set an oil refinery in Russia’s Kaluga region on fire, RIA state news agency reported on Friday, citing emergency services sources.
  Vladislav Shapsha, governor of the Kaluga region which borders the broader Moscow region, said on the Telegram messaging app that the fire was promptly extinguished. He did not say at what facility it took place. However, RIA reported that three containers with diesel fuel and one with fuel oil were consumed by the fire at the Pervyi Zavod refinery in Kaluga.
• A solitary, symbolic tank has featured in Russia’s annual 9 May military parade for the second year in a row as the country was forced to pare down its normal display of military might during a full-scale war in which it has suffered unprecedented losses over the last two years.

ShareUpdated at 10.03 BST5h ago08.35 BST

Russia has lost 479,710 troops, 7,434 tanks and 14,313 armoured personnel vehicles since the conflict began, according to the General Staff of the Armed forces of Ukraine.

It also reports that Russia losses include 16,691 vehicles and fuel tanks, 12,387 artillery systems, 1,062 multiple launch rocket systems, 349 airplanes, 325 helicopters, 9,826 drones and 26 ships and boats.