The city of Balakliya in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, where the Ukrainian army has been waging a counter-offensive for the past several days, is essentially not under the control of pro-Russian forces, the “head” of the occupation “government” Vitaly Ganchev said.
“There is a difficult humanitarian situation [in Balakliya]… Heavy fighting is underway. Balakliya is essentially not under our control. There are attempts to push out the Ukrainian forces, but there’s heavy fighting there, and our troops are being held back on the approaches to the city,” he said, quoted by RIA Novosti.
The situation near Shevchenkove remains difficult as well, he added. “The Ukrainian armed formations are trying to breach our defences there, too. Right now, reserves from all across Russia have been deployed there, our troops are fighting back,” Ganchev said.
The Russian Defence Ministry published a video showing Russian troops deploying armoured vehicles and personnel to the Kharkiv region.