Ukrainian official: Russia widens Kharkiv front in Ukraine with small assault groups

Russia pressed its ground assault into Ukraine's Kharkiv region on Monday, attacking new areas with small groups to try to widen the front and stretch Ukraine's forces, the regional governor said.

"The enemy is trying to deliberately stretch it (the front line), attacking in small groups, but in new directions, so to speak," Governor Oleh Syniehubov said in televised comments.

A day after the Russian offensive began, Ukraine appointed Brigadier General Mykhailo Drapatyi to take command of the Kharkiv front, the media outlet RBC-Ukraine reported.

In the northeast, Russia's forces were pushing in several directions, including near the town of Vovchansk and also towards the village of Lyptsi, Syniehubov said.

Kyiv's forces were managing to hold Moscow's troops back but there was a real threat that the fighting could spread to new settlements, he warned.

The Ukrainian military, in its daily readout, acknowledged some Russian "tactical successes" and said it was deploying reserves to stabilize the situation.

It said fighting was raging for control of Vovchansk, about five km (three miles) from the Russian border.

Syniehubov said about 5,700 people had been evacuated from in and around Vovchansk and urged the remaining residents, said by local officials to number about 300, to leave.

Reuters