Russia Advances North of Kharkiv, Says ISW

Russian troops have made creeping advances north of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city in the east, amidst Kyiv’s ongoing offensive inside Russia’s Kursk region that started on Aug. 6.

The Insitute for the Study of War (ISW), citing geolocated footage in its Sept. 1 report, said Russian troops advanced within western Hlyboke, a village 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) north of Kharkiv City and 7 kilometers (4.5 miles) south of the Russian border.

Russian attempts to storm Hlyboke started since at least July.

“The Ukrainian Kharkiv Group of Forces reported that Russian personnel movements near Hlyboke are sporadic due to Ukrainian drone operations and that Ukrainian forces repelled a Russian assault group from the area near the Vovchansk Aggregate Plant in central Vovchansk (northeast of Kharkiv City) on the night of Aug. 31 to Sept. 1,” reads the ISW report.

The ISW asserted that the Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region remained one of its prime objectives, with the goal of “[pushing] Ukrainian forces back from the international border with Belgorod Oblast and approach to within tube artillery range of Kharkiv City.”

The ISW said fighting continued near Lyptsi, north of Kharkiv City, and Vovchansk, further northeast of Kharkiv City, adding that Russia was likely rotating troops in the area.

“Ukrainian Kharkiv Group of Forces Spokesperson Colonel Vitaliy Sarantsev stated that elements of the Russian 136th Motorized Rifle Brigade (58th Combined Arms Army [CAA], Southern Military District [SMD]) are completing the ongoing relief in place for the 83rd Airborne (VDV) Brigade and suggested that there are now nearly 3,000 Russian personnel at these positions.

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The head of the Kupiansk military administration said the Russian assaults one day earlier as "very difficult" but said the Russian troops retreated and the situation was again under control.

“Elements of the Russian 7th Motorized Rifle Regiment (11th Army Corps [AC], Leningrad Military District [LMD]) reportedly recently conducted assault operations near Lyptsi,” read the ISW report.

The ISW added that Ukraine’s Kursk region has yet to degrade public opinion in Russia towards the war in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Kyiv’s incursion into Russia's Kursk region will not stop Moscow's advance in eastern Ukraine.