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Fighting was intense around the northeastern city of Kharkiv on Friday as Ukrainian forces were making relatively steady progress in the region, according to a FRANCE 24 team reporting in the country’s second-largest city. Britain’s Defense Ministry said Russia’s focus on the eastern Donbas has left its remaining troops around Kharkiv vulnerable to counterattack. Follow FRANCE 24’s live blog for all the latest developments. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
7:41am: Ukrainian forces prevent Russian river crossing in Donbas: UK
Ukrainian forces successfully prevented an attempted Russian river crossing in the Donbas, according to the British defence ministry.
Images suggest that Russia has lost armoured manoeuvre elements of at least one battalion tactical group and the deployed pontoon bridging equipment while crossing the Siverskyi Donets river west of Severodonetsk, Britain said in its intelligence update posted on Twitter.
7:17am: Battle moving ‘from village to village’
Reporting from Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine, FRANCE 24’s Nadia Massih said Ukrainian troops have been making steady progress in the northeastern region, with the fighting moving from village to village.
Britain’s Defense Ministry said Russia’s focus on the eastern Donbas region has left its remaining troops around Kharkiv to the north vulnerable to counterattack from Ukrainian forces, which recaptured several towns and villages around the city.
12:45am: US says Russia has forcibly taken ‘thousands’ of Ukrainians
The US has accused Russia of forcibly taking tens of thousands of Ukrainians, often singled out for their resistance to the invasion, to Russia.
The remarks support allegations by the Ukrainian government, which estimates nearly 1.2 million people have been deported into Russia or Russian-controlled territory and has denounced so-called “filtration camps” in which Moscow interrogates detained people.
US Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Michael Carpenter said that witness testimony attests to “brutal interrogations” in the camps.
“Accounts of this brutality and forced displacement are happening right now, as we speak, and these actions amount to war crimes,” Carpenter told the organization in Vienna.
“We must not allow this evil to stand,” he said.
(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and REUTERS)
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