Ukraine is evacuating civilians from part of the northeastern Kharkiv region as Russia tries to push through its defenses there.
(Bloomberg) — Ukraine is evacuating civilians from part of the northeastern Kharkiv region as Russia tries to push through its defenses there.
With attention focused on the south of Ukraine where Kyiv is trying to retake occupied territory, people near the city of Kupyansk in the North should move to safety, news service Interfax reported, citing an order from local authorities.
Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said Friday that Ukrainian forces are “efficiently stemming” Russia’s advance on the city, which was seized during Russia’s invasion in early 2022, and then retaken by Kyiv’s forces in last year’s fall counteroffensive.
Russia is trying to create “a fist” to break through in the northeastern region, Ukraine’s ground troops commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said earlier this week. Syrskyi visited troops near Kupyansk, a city with a pre-war population of about 28,000 and the site of a major rail hub, on Tuesday.
Ukraine’s government has issued evacuation orders in the past in areas of heavy fighting to protect the population from Russian attacks on civilians.
In the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, a ballistic missile hit a hotel hosting a children’s summer camp and humanitarian workers late on Thursday, killing one woman and wounding at least four children, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said.
The United Nations, which had staff at the site, demanded that Russia stop attacking civilian targets in Ukraine.
“It is utterly inadmissible,” UN Humanitarian Coordinator For Ukraine Denise Brown said in a statement. “The number of indiscriminate attacks hitting civilian infrastructure, killing and injuring civilians, have reached unimaginable levels – these attacks violate international humanitarian law.”
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