The army of Ukraine recognized today Monday that Russia scores “regular hits” in the Kharkiv region (northeast), where Moscow said it had seized four more communities near the border in an offensive it launched on Friday, prompting the hasty evacuation of thousands of civilians.

“Currently, the enemy is scoring regular successes,” the Ukrainian military admitted on Facebook in the early hours of the morning, adding that “fighting continues in the border town of Vovchank,” which had about 3,000 residents before the ongoing offensive, as part of the which the Russian forces mobilized “up to five battalions”, against Kiev.

“Defensive engagements and heavy fighting continue on a large part of our borders,” summed up the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyaccording to which “the idea behind the attacks in the Kharkiv region is to overextend our forces and deal a blow to the morale” of the Ukrainian army.

The Russian Ministry of Defense spoke yesterday about the occupation of four more communities, very close to the border of the two states, in the Kharkiv region. Its homonymous capital is second largest city of Ukraine.

Volodymyr Tymosko, head of police in Kharkiv Oblast, said Vovchank was under attack from three sides and that Russian forces were in its vicinity. “Despite active fighting, the police continue the hasty evacuation” of the population, he assured.

The Chief of the Ukrainian General Staff Oleksandr Shirsky appeared reassuring, stressing that “the efforts piercing our defenses stopped”but admitted that the situation “significantly worsened” and remains “complicated”. Ukrainian forces are doing everything they can to hold their defense lines and inflict casualties on the enemy,” he added.

AFP journalists saw people hurriedly leaving Vovchank yesterday. Most of them were elderly and disoriented people.

“We weren’t ready to leave,” protested Lyuda Zelenskaya, 72, with her cat in her arms. Lyuba Konovalova, 70, said she had a “horrible night” before being forced to flee her town.

According to Oleksii Kharkivskiy, a police officer in Vovchank, there were casualties in Saturday’s shelling and the city continues to be “fired non-stop”: “with artillery, with mortars—the enemy is attacking with everything they have,” said the policeman, who is involved in operation for the urgent removal of residents.

According to him, about 1,500 people have fled since Friday, while the city has suffered 32 drone attacks in the past 24 hours.

Yesterday, there were still about 500 residents left in it, according to the military governor of Kharkiv, Oleh Sinekhubov.

“All zones of the northern border are under enemy fire almost 24 hours a day. The situation is difficult,” explained Mr. Sinekhubov via social networking sites.

“Despite all the developments (…) in the region, (the city of) Kharkiv is calm, we don’t see people leaving,” emphasized its mayor Igor Terekhov.

Authorities in Kiev have warned for weeks that Moscow’s forces were preparing to launch attacks in the country’s northeast, as Ukraine faces delays in aid deliveries from its Western allies and a shortage of combat-experienced soldiers.

At the same time, Ukrainian forces have increased their attacks inside Russia and in areas of Ukrainian territory controlled by the Russian military, primarily targeting energy infrastructure.

In Belgorod, near the border, 15 people were killed when a property partially collapsed yesterday, hit by a Ukrainian missile shot down by anti-aircraft defenses, according to the latest toll released by the Emergency Situations Ministry today. About twenty other people were injured.

The Russian news agency RIA reported early today that there were “two powerful explosions”, without going into more detail. A Ukrainian drone caused a fire at a refinery in Volgograd (southern Russia) on the night of Saturday to Sunday, regional governor Andrey Bacharov said, assuring that there were no casualties and that the resulting fire was extinguished.

Owned by Russian oil giant Lukoil, the refinery says on its website that it is the largest in the southern federal sector, which is administered by eight oblasts in southwestern Russia. The same facility was the target of a Ukrainian drone attack in early February. Even then, no casualties were reported.

Kiev says it is carrying out these attacks in retaliation for Russian shelling of civilian installations, especially its energy infrastructure.

The Russian advance is registered as in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin last Sunday night proceeded in a rather unexpected reshuffle of his government, removing from his position the – emblematic – Minister of Defense Sergei Saigu, after more than two years of war in Ukraine, the the outcome of which is anything but certain.

After more than two years of leading the war, Sergei Shoigu, Minister of Defense since 2012; guy was promoted, after it was announced that he will take over as head of Russia’s National Security Council, a position previously held by Nikolai Patrushev, but he was effectively removed from his critical post. He will be succeeded by Andrei Belusov, an economist without the slightest experience in military affairs. “Today, on the battlefield, the one who is most open to innovation prevails,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov argued.