Russian offensive on Kharkiv forces some 1,700 civilians to flee

The Russian Defense Ministry says Moscow’s forces have captured five villages in a renewed ground assault in northeastern Ukraine. Associated Press journalists in the city of Vovchansk described multiple buildings destroyed after Russian airstrikes and barrages of Grad rockets. The villages lie in a contested “gray zone” on the border of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and Russia. Ukrainian journalists reported that the villages of Borysivka, Ohirtseve, Pylna and Strilecha were taken by Russian troops on Friday. Russia said the village of Pletenivka was also taken. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says fighting was still ongoing in the settlements of Strilecha and Pletenivka, as well as Krasne, Morokhovets, Oliinykove, Lukyantsi and Hatyshche.