Thousands flee Russian offensive in Kharkiv region

Fighting around Ukraine’s second-largest city has displaced approximately 14,000 people, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Russian forces recently launched a summer offensive, capturing several villages on Ukraine's north-eastern frontier near Kharkiv as they attempt to breach a weakened Ukrainian front line.

Kharkiv's regional leader reported that seven people were injured in Russian drone strikes on the city overnight.

In a cross-border incident, a Ukrainian drone strike in Belgorod killed at least one person, as reported by Russian media.

During a press briefing, the WHO’s Jarno Habicht stated that 14,000 people had fled the fighting in the area. However, the 189,000 people remaining near the Russian border face “significant risks due to ongoing fighting.”

Ukraine continues to control about 60% of Vovchansk, a border town central to the recent clashes, according to deputy regional head Roman Semenukha. Another Ukrainian military official told AFP that the situation in Kharkiv remains difficult and is changing dynamically.

Russia is increasingly employing cheap but highly destructive "glide bombs" to advance its offensive in Ukraine. Over 200 of these bombs are estimated to have hit Vovchansk in just a week.

Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky fears the summer assault could only be a first wav

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During an unannounced trip to Kyiv on Tuesday, Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock urged the West to supply more air defense weapons to protect Ukrainians from the "rain of Russian drones and missiles."

The governor of Russia's Belgorod Region, which borders Ukraine, reported that a woman was killed and three others injured by a drone strike on a moving car. "A kamikaze drone attacked a moving car with a driver and three passengers," Belgorod’s governor stated on Telegram. Vyacheslav Gladkov noted that the incident occurred about 12km (7 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The US-based Institute for the Study of War think tank suggested that Russia's assault in the Kharkiv region aims to create a buffer zone to deter Ukraine’s cross-border attacks.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky warned last week that the Russian ground offensive might be just the "first wave" of further assaults.

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