The Russian Armed Forces established control over five more settlements in the Kharkov region

In a week, Russian troops have established control over five settlements in the Kharkiv region, the front line is gradually moving towards Kharkov, said Vitaly Ganchev, head of the Russian-controlled military-civilian administration of the region.

The military of the Russian Federation is approaching the suburbs of Kupyansk, clashes are recorded in Petropavlovka, Ganchev said on the air of Solovyov.ru. Live”.

“Naturally, now there is almost a gray zone in the settlements being liberated. Our territory has now expanded by another 5 settlements over the past week, now there are 33 of them under the control of the Russian Armed Forces. This is basically a gray zone, and people live there in very difficult conditions,” said he (TASS quote).

The Ukrainian authorities earlier announced the evacuation in the Kyiv-controlled Kupyansky district of the Kharkiv region. Ganchev informedthat the Russian military had to go “a few kilometers” to Kupyansk. On August 16, the commander of the ground forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Alexander Syrsky, announced the aggravation of the situation in the Kupyansk direction, in connection with which he worked for two days in units conducting defense on the outskirts of the city.

For the past few months, the Ministry of Defense has been reporting on the advance of Russian troops in the Kupyansk direction. Earlier, the department reported that the RF Armed Forces “improved the situation along the front line”, in particular, the army repelled seven counterattacks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in this direction in the LPR and the Kharkov region.