Russians attempt to breach border toward Dihtiarne in Kharkiv region — Demchenko
Russian occupation forces attempted to breach the border toward Dihtiarne in the Kharkiv region. The Defense Forces repelled the enemy attack, killing more than 20 occupiers.
This was reported on television by State Border Guard Service Spokesman Andrii Demchenko, according to a Ukrinform correspondent.
"This [attack] took place in the direction of the village of Dihtiarne. Before this, the enemy had appeared in small groups near the border, probably testing the situation. But at the beginning of this week, after gathering some forces, they tried to attack the positions of border units with small infantry groups, but in greater numbers. In total, during these days, when our guys repelled the attack, the enemy lost about 21 killed, and 11 occupiers were wounded," Demchenko said.
He added that attempts by the enemy to expand the combat zone to the neighboring settlements of Kruhle and Buhruvatka are currently being observed.
“The enemy continues to attempt to breach the state border and expand the combat zone across Ukraine, but thanks to the resilience and courage of every Ukrainian soldier and border guard, the enemy has been unable to yield results in this area,” the spokesperson said.
According to him, there is currently no enemy activity near the border village of Sotnytskyi Kozachok in the Kharkiv region.
At the same time, the day before, the occupiers tried to storm the positions of border units toward the village of Vovchanski Khutory, but suffered losses and failed to advance.
Demchenko also commented on the situation near the village of Hrabovske in the Sumy region. "The enemy is in the settlement itself... At one time, the enemy entered there, tried to leave the settlement, and attacked the positions of Ukrainian defenders further. At the same time, the enemy is also unable to achieve success in advancing within the Krasnopillia community, in particular toward the village of Hrabovske," he said.
The State Border Guard Service spokesman noted that the enemy periodically shows activity in various directions, including in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions, where it had not previously been active.
As reported by Ukrinform, fighters of the Hart Border Brigade thwarted an attempt by the Russian army to break through their positions on the state border of Ukraine in the Kharkiv region.
On the night of December 20, 2025, Russian troops crossed the Ukrainian border in the village of Hrabovske, Sumy region, and took more than 50 Ukrainian civilians to Russia.
Viktor Tregubov, Head of Communications for the Joint Forces Task Force, noted that Russian troops had entrenched themselves in the village of Hrabovske in the Sumy region.