The Latest Breaking News from Kharkiv

The battle for Ukraine’s second city is near its end, but suburbs are still under attack as Putin’s forces make a fighting withdrawal

Ukrainian forces have pushed back Russian troops near the country's second-largest city of Kharkiv to within 3 to 4 kilometers (1.9-2.5 miles) of the Russian border, a senior U.S. defense official said on Monday.

Its military bogged down in a grinding conflict in eastern Ukraine, Russia lost diplomatic ground over the weekend as two more European nations moved closer to joining NATO. Finland announced Sunday that it was seeking to join the alliance, saying Russia's invasion of Ukraine nearly three months ago had changed…

Ukraine said on Monday troops defending the country's second-largest city, Kharkiv, had repelled Russian forces and advanced as far as the border with Russia.

Ukraine was on Monday preparing for a new Russian push in the eastern Donbas region, as Kyiv said its army's counterattack around the north-eastern city of Kharkiv had gained momentum.

Ukraine's military said on Tuesday it was working to evacuate all remaining troops from their last stronghold in the besieged port of Mariupol, ceding control of the city to Russia after months of bombardment. The evacuation likely marked the end of the longest and bloodiest battle of the Ukraine war…

Russia's military is bogged down in a grinding conflict in eastern Ukraine

(Note profanity in paragraph 2.)

Russia pummelled positions in the east of Ukraine on Sunday, its defence ministry said, as it sought to encircle Ukrainian forces in the battle for Donbas and fend off a counteroffensive around the strategic Russian-controlled city of Izium.