Much of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region was recaptured by Ukrainian forces, but the military said the liberated areas were now heavily shelled by Russian artillery.
The Kharkiv Regional Military Civil Administration said on Friday that “during the past day the enemy heavily shelled the recently liberated settlements of the Kharkiv region in the districts of Kharkiv, Kupyansk and Izium. Residential buildings were destroyed; there are wounded”.
The administration said 10 people were injured in the Kupiansk district, including two children. Another person was injured in Izium district and another in Kharkiv district, he added.
Areas of Kharkiv near the Russian border were also attacked, he said, adding that there had been rocket attacks on the village of Zolochiv north of the city of Kharkiv.
Elsewhere, in Luhansk: The administration of the eastern Lugansk region said fighting continued along the line of contact, but there were no other changes in Ukrainian-held territory. He said long-range artillery strikes by Ukrainian forces had inflicted heavy casualties on Russian units in the Perevalsk region, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) behind the front lines.
Donetsk: In Donetsk, regional authorities said Russian forces continued to shell settlements around Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Toretsk, killing five civilians. Despite a mandatory evacuation from the area, thousands of civilians have not left their homes.
Dnipropetrovsk: Further south, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, the towns of Kryvyi Rih and Nikopol came under fire. Local authorities reported extensive damage to Nikopol from Russian rocket attacks. “The Russians pointed their missiles at critical infrastructure. There is serious destruction of hydraulic structures,” Valentyn Reznichenko, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said of Kryvyi Rih.
Earlier this week, missile attacks on water infrastructure caused flooding along the Inhulets River, which flows south of Kryvyi Rih.
Kherson: The regional military administration in the southern Kherson region hinted that there had been little further progress for Ukrainian forces there, saying “the situation in the region remains difficult”.
He said Russian forces attempted to carry out an assault towards the town of Ivanivka but retreated with casualties. He also said that Ukrainian rocket and artillery units carried out 140 fire missions.
