Ukraine’s counter-offensive in Kharkiv continues, with Ukrainian forces appearing to be closing in on the city of Kupiansk, a key logistical hub for Russian forces in the region
US-based thinktank the Institute for the Study of War said late on Thursday night it was likely the city would be taken within 72 hours, and that its recapture would severely hinder Russian lines of communication on the ground.
Unverified photos posted to social media appeared to show soldiers holding a Ukrainian flag on the outskirts of the city.
Footage reportedly shot in the city of Balakliia, another city in the Kharkiv region, shows residents welcoming soldiers following its recapture by Ukrainian forces.
Ukraine’s military has said the number of Russian soldiers killed since the start of the invasion has reached 51,900.
It also said that information provided to it by Ukrainians inside occupied territory has contributed to a recent rise in Russian personnel losses from 150-200 a day to about 600.
At least 10 people, three of them children, were injured and a kindergarten was set on fire amid heavy shelling in Kharkiv, city mayor Igor Terekhov has said
Nine civilians have also been killed and 23 have been injured by Russian forces in the Donetsk region, according to local officials.
A Russian airstrike hit and destroyed a hospital in the north-eastern region of Sumy near the Russian border on Friday, Ukrainian officials said.
A total of 127 medical facilities have been destroyed and 826 have been damaged since the start of the invasion, according to the Ukrainian ministry of health.
The Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki has arrived in Kyiv for talks on energy and military security. A spokesperson said the visit was intended as a “political signal to the Kremlin”.
The UK’s ministry of defence has said it is “highly unlikely” Belarus is preparing to enter the war in Ukraine, despite ongoing military exercises being conducted by the country’s military
A spokesperson for President Putin has said he is “not considering” attending the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.
