Region Kharkiv Financial News

As Russian strikes against Ukraine continue relentlessly and peace hopes seem to fade, a growing number of experts say the war may soon reach a crucial turning point. 

Ukraine. The war correspondent for Russia's main pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia was killed in Kharkiv region on Monday, the outlet announced. «Izvestia correspondent Alexander Fedorchak was killed in the zone of the special military operation,» Izvestia said, using Moscow's term for its full-scale offensive in Ukraine, adding that he was killed «in the Kharkiv region». Fedorchak was killed as both Russia and Ukraine held talks with the United States on a potential partial ceasefire. The newspaper said that its correspondent died «in the Kupyansk direction» — a city that has been under intense Russian attack and where Russian forces have been advancing. «His last report was broadcast literally the day before,» Izvestia said on its website.

Ukrainian shelling of Russia-held areas of the Donetsk region killed two people in the village of Horlivka, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said. Three people were wounded by Russian drone strikes in southern Ukraine's partly occupied Kherson region, local officials said Sunday morning. In the country's northeast, officials in the Kharkiv region said two people were wounded when a village was hit by Russian shells.

Ukraine that it can use American-supplied weapons to hit Russian forces «anywhere». They can hit any Russian forces attacking from across the border, and not just the region near Kharkiv, Politico reported, citing US officials. This subtle shift, which according to the officials is not a change in policy, comes weeks after the US quietly signaled the green light to Kyiv to strike inside Russia in retaliation to a cross-border assault on the city of Kharkiv. During that time, the US officials stressed that the policy was limited to the Kharkiv region, among other restrictions.

Russia alleged on Friday that Ukraine had used US-supplied rockets to kill women and children in a region of southern Russia, and said that Washington was to blame.

Ukraine on Thursday ordered the evacuation of children and their guardians from several towns and villages in the eastern Donetsk region, where fighting with Russia is intensifying.

U.S. President Joe Biden approved Ukraine using U.S. weapons to strike targets inside Russia that were attacking the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, after Kyiv sought authorization from Washington in recent weeks, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed on Friday. Speaking at a news conference in Prague after an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers, Blinken did not specifically say whether Biden's authorization could expand to include other Russian cities and targets that are deeper inside Russia. He said Washington's move, a marked change in policy by Biden, who had steadfastly refused to allow Ukraine to use American weaponry for strikes inside Russia, was a result of U.S. strategy of adjusting and adapting to the battleground. Now, he said, the U.S. is responding to what it has seen in and around the Kharkiv region.

Germany on Friday suggested Ukraine could use weapons supplied by Western countries to defend itself against attacks launched from just inside Russia against the northern border region around the city of Kharkiv in accordance with international law. Germany discussed with allies the fact that Russia has carried out strikes on the Kharkiv region from positions in the immediately adjacent Russian border area, a government spokesperson said in a statement. «We are jointly convinced that Ukraine has the right, guaranteed under international law, to defend itself against these attacks,» the spokesperson said.

Zelenskiy said on Friday that Ukrainian forces had secured "combat control" of areas where Russian troops staged an incursion this month in northern parts of Kharkiv region.

Officials say a nighttime Russian attack has destroyed train tracks and rolling stock in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region

Russia from advancing further into the northeastern Kharkiv region and are now counter-attacking, but Moscow is intensifying its assault on other parts of the front, Ukraine's army said Friday. Kyiv has been battling a fresh Russian land assault in the Kharkiv region since May 10, when thousands of Moscow's troops stormed the border, making their biggest territorial advances in 18 months. President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the region's capital on Friday to discuss the battle for Vovchansk, a town that sits fewer than five kilometres (three miles) from the border.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin committed Monday to keeping weapons from the United States moving to Ukraine as Kyiv faces one of its toughest moments against a renewed assault by Russia.

Ukraine has retaken half of the territory Russia seized at the beginning of the war – and one day it will be a NATO member, the alliance’s top soldier said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has thanked Chinese leader Xi Jinping for China’s proposals on ending the war in Ukraine, which have been rejected by Ukraine and its Western supporters as largely following the Kremlin’s line

Vladimir Putin says the Kremlin is prepared to negotiate over the conflict in Ukraine, in an interview with Chinese media on the eve of visit to partner Beijing that has backed Moscow in its full-scale invasion of its neighbour. «We are open to a dialogue on Ukraine, but such negotiations must take into account the interests of all countries involved in the conflict, including ours,» Putin was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency on Wednesday.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported intense military activity in Ukraine, stating that the country is experiencing "fierce battles" and facing "extremely difficult" circumstances in certain regions. Despite these challenges, he emphasised the importance of resilience and the need to “hold its ground," ANI reported. In a public address, Zelenskyy expressed concerns about Russian psychological warfare, cautioning, "the occupier feeds on lies and the fear that follows the lies." He advised the public to remain sceptical of sensational news, stressing the importance of verifying information and maintaining emotional composure.

Ukraine is waging a tough new battle on its border, fending off a heavy Russian bombardment of northeastern Kharkiv region in an assault that will stretch Kyiv's manpower. Russian forces smashed through the border into Kharkiv region on Friday, threatening to open a new front in the 27-month war that has long been waged in the south and east and the Russian military says it has seized control of at least nine villages. Kyiv said it was repelling the attacks and battling for control of the settlements. Ukraine's chief commander, Oleksander Syrskyi, said on Sunday his forces were doing all they could to hold the line.

Russia on Saturday said it had captured five villages in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region during a surprise ground offensive that prompted mass evacuations, as President Volodymyr Zelensky made an urgent call for military aid. Moscow's defence ministry said its troops had «liberated» five villages in Ukraine's Kharkiv region near the Russian border — Borysivka, Ogirtseve, Pletenivka, Pylna and Strilecha — as well as taking one village in the Donetsk region. Ukraine's defence ministry said Friday Russia had launched a surprise attack on the Kharkiv region, making small advances into a border zone from where it had been pushed back nearly two years ago.

Sergei Shoigu ordered more, and swifter, delivery of weapons for Moscow's military operation in Ukraine, the Russian defence ministry said on Wednesday. Russia, which calls its war in Ukraine a special military operation, now controls just under a fifth of Ukraine's territory, the bulk seized during the first months of the war it launched in February 2022. At a meeting with the top military command for Moscow's fight in Ukraine, the chief of the general staff, Valery Gerasimov, who is in charge of the operation, delivered a report to Shoigu, the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukraine fired dozens of drones at Russia's southern Rostov region, home to its army headquarters for the military offensive, in the early hours of Friday, Russian officials said. Russia's defence ministry said it downed 53 Ukrainian drones overnight — 44 over the Rostov region — while the governor said a power station was damaged in the attack. Rostov-on-Don, the capital of the region that sits just across the border from Ukraine, is the command headquarters for Russia's military campaign and home to a swathe of Russian military sites.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose NATO-member country has sought to balance its close relations with both Ukraine and Russia, offered during a visit Friday from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to host a peace summit between the two countries. Erdogan, who has repeatedly discussed brokering a peace deal, said at a news conference in Istanbul following his meeting with Zelenskyy that he hoped Russia would be on board with Turkey’s offer.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Istanbul for talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan