Russia said Sunday it had captured four more villages in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, as thousands of residents were evacuated from the offensive in an area where Russian troops had been pushed back in 2022.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said that "fierce fighting" was under way and governor Oleg Synegubov said "all areas" of the regional border with Russia were now "under enemy fire almost around the clock".

Across the border in the Russian city of Belgorod, emergency services said eight people were killed when a residential building was hit by a Ukrainian missile after it was intercepted by air defences.

In Ukraine, local prosecutors said four civilians had been killed in the Kharkiv region in the ground Russian offensive, which was launched on Friday.

The Ukrainian army's top commander said that although the situation was "complicated", his forces were managing to hold back further Russian advances.

But Russia's defence ministry said its forces had "advanced deeply into the enemy defences" as it announced the latest territorial gains, a day after claiming the capture of five villages in Kharkiv region.

At an evacuation........

© International Business Times