Ukrainian army says some Russian troops withdrawing from Vovchansk area

Some of the Russian forces are withdrawing from the area near Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast for replenishment due to a loss of combat capability, the spokesperson for the Khortytsia group of forces, Nazar Voloshyn, said on June 22 on national television.

Russia launched a new offensive on May 10 in northern Kharkiv Oblast, and Vovchansk became the scene of some of the heaviest fighting.

Moscow’s forces had advanced as far as 10 kilometers (6 miles) in the region but had been halted by the first line of defense.

Russia was “bogged down” in the embattled town of Vovchansk but was constantly replenishing its forces with units from other directions, Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi said on June 12.

The withdrawal of Russian units was also seen near the villages of Lyptsi and Tykhe, where the Russian armed forces suffered losses, Voloshyn said.

Voloshin said that the Russian army had lost 60 of its troops, including both killed or wounded, in that direction of the front line.

“This indicates that the enemy has suspended its active hostilities in that area, as they were not conducted over the past day and in the morning,” Voloshyn said.

The Russian military yet continues to use guided aerial bombs and missiles against the settlements in the oblast, the spokesperson added.

On June 21, a Russian drone hit an Ukrposhta postal vehicle in the community of Vovchansk in Ukraine’s Kharkiv Oblast, killing a courier and injuring a driver, Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported

The injured individual reportedly walked to the nearby village of Buhaiivka, where he was taken to the hospital by Ukrainian military personnel in the area.

Syniehubov said access is restricted to the site of the attack due to constant shelling.

Russia’s move on Kharkiv has bogged down. But was it a failure?

In the first half of May, Russia opened a new front to its war against Ukraine in dramatic fashion. The two-pronged offensive on Kharkiv Oblast unfolded on the back of some of the most difficult months for Ukrainian forces, overstretched and depleted after a brutal winter and early spring campaign