Russia renews attacks on Kharkiv to divert Ukraine’s forces from east

Fresh attacks near the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv injured a dozen people on Thursday as Russia targeted the country’s north and south in a bid to divert Ukrainian reinforcements from the epicentre of fighting in the Donbas.

The diversionary strikes came as the governor of the Luhansk region said Ukrainian troops may have to abandon Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, the twin cities at the centre of the fiercest fighting, in the face of overwhelming Russian assaults.

“In order to avoid encirclement, our command could order that the troops retreat to new positions,” he said on national television. “All of Lysychansk is within reach of their fire. It is very dangerous in the city.”

Russian breakthroughs over the past two days have prompted warnings the two-month battle for the twin cities on the Siversky Donets river could soon be reaching its climax.

The British Ministry of Defence said the Russians had advanced more than three miles towards the southern edge of Lysychansk since Sunday, jeopardising the remaining supply route to Ukrainian-controlled territory.

Ukraine’s General Staff said on Thursday evening that its troops had repelled a Russian assault on the city’s southern fringes and that the enemy was regrouping.

Gen Valery Zaluzhny, the head of the Ukrainian armed forces, appeared to confirm a withdrawal was being considered, writing in a post that “we are forced to conduct a mobile defence, to occupy more advantageous lines and positions”.

He did not give further details.

American weapons delivered

The loss of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk would be a political and tactical blow for Ukraine, leaving Russia in full control of the Luhansk region, but is unlikely to end the war.

Ukrainian generals hope their full-throttled defence of the cities will have caused Russia significant casualties and bought time for deliveries of Western weapons they hope could turn the tide of the war.

The first of those weapons, American Himars rocket launchers, arrived in the country on Thursday.

“Thank you to my American colleague and friend Lloyd Austin for these powerful tools!” Oleksii Reznikov, the Ukrainian defence minister, wrote on Twitter. “Summer will be hot for Russian occupiers. And the last one for some of them.”