Russia’s war in Ukraine

Russian forces have made minor advances on one front near the city of Izium, according to the Ukrainian military, but are also on the defensive near Kharkiv as a Ukrainian counter-attack continues.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said Sunday the Russians had captured the northern outskirts of the village of Shandryholove as they try to push south from the Izium area into the Donetsk region.

The enemy concentrated its main efforts on “preparations for the continuation of the offensive” in the area.

Along other front lines there were few changes, the General Staff said, with the Russians using artillery against Ukrainian defenses.

In the Kharkiv area, the General Staff said that the Russians were concentrating on “preventing the further advance of our troops towards the state border of Ukraine to the north and northeast of Kharkiv.”

To that end they were shelling villages recently recaptured by Ukrainian forces — such as Prudyanka and Slatine — and trying to strengthen their defensive positions.

In the south-west of Ukraine, the armed forces said “the situation remains tense.”

They claimed that “armed formations” in the pro-Russian area of Transnistria in Moldova, as well as Russian troops there, are in full combat readiness. Transnistria, a breakaway territory within Moldova, has housed Russian troops for decades.

The General Staff confirmed clashes on Snake Island, a small island off the Romanian and Ukrainian coastline. It said that, during Saturday, one Russian Mi-28H helicopter as well as a number of drones had been destroyed by anti-aircraft missiles. The military’s Operational Command (South) later published drone video purporting to show a Russian helicopter on Snake Island being destroyed.