Russians seek to expand combat zone to Nesterne and Kruhle in Kharkiv region

Over the past few days, Russian occupation forces, in addition to the Pokrovsk and Lyman directions, have been conducting the most active combat operations in the area of the settlements of Dihtiarne, Nestern, and Kruhle in the Kharkiv region.

This was reported during a briefing at Ukrinform by Andrii Demchenko, spokesman for the State Border Service.

"Recently, in the last few days, the enemy has been most active in attempting to storm the positions of border units in the Pokrovsk and Lyman directions, as well as in the Kharkiv region. As for the Kharkiv region, the enemy has been most active over the past week in the direction of the village of Dihtiarne, and is also trying to expand the zone of fighting to neighboring villages - Nesterne and Kruhle," Demchenko said.

According to him, all the enemy's assault operations against the positions of the Donetsk border guard detachment were repelled, with more than 160 occupiers killed and another 146 wounded.

According to the spokesman, the escalation is also being recorded near the settlement of Vovchanski Khutory, where there is daily enemy activity, but no significant assault operations are being carried out.

Reporting on the situation in the Sumy region along the border with Russia, the spokesperson reminded that we're talking about a 550 km stretch.

"The enemy continues to try to advance or storm the positions of Ukrainian soldiers, in particular within the Khotyn, Yunakiv, and Myropilia communities, where, again, using only infantry, it periodically attempts to attack the positions of Ukrainian defenders. But the enemy cannot achieve any results or advance deeper into our country's territory," the spokesman said.

He added that the enemy is also not actively operating in the direction of the village of Hrabivske, in the Krasnopilia community.

“Since entering this settlement, Russian Federation Armed Forces servicemen have been unable to leave its boundaries or expand the combat zone on Ukrainian territory,” Demchenko said.

As reported by Ukrinform, on January 16, Russian occupation forces attempted to break through the border in the direction of Dihtiarne, Kharkiv region. The Defense Forces repelled the enemy attack, destroying more than 20 occupiers.

Ukrinform photos can be purchased here.