More than 4,000 people have moved away from border areas in his province Kharkivin northeastern Ukraine, the local governor said today after Russian troops launched a surprise ground cross-border operation on Friday.

“A total of 4,073 people have been removed,” wrote Oleh Sinekhubov on social media, a day after Russian forces announced they had taken five villages in the area under their control.

Sinekhubov pointed out that a 63-year-old man was killed by artillery fire in the village of Gliboke and a 38-year-old man was wounded in Vovshansk, a border town of about 3,000 before the recent Russian military operation.

On Friday, Kiev announced that Russian forces had made small advances in the border region, from which they had been pushed almost two years ago. Most of Kharkiv province is under Ukrainian control as of September 2022.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last Saturday night that Ukrainian troops launched a counterattack on border villages in Kharkiv province.

“Our primary task is to destroy Russian attack plans,” he stressed, while adding that Ukrainian troops “should return the initiative” to Kiev and called on the country’s allies to speed up arms deliveries.

Ukraine has warned for weeks that Russia might try to attack border areas in the northeast, taking advantage of the situation as Western aid to Kiev is delayed and the Ukrainian army faces a troop shortage.