Ukraine says has withdrawn troops in parts of Kharkiv region

KIEV

Ukraine on Wednesday said it had pulled back troops near several villages in the northeastern Kharkiv region where Russian forces have been advancing and pounding settlements in a new offensive along the border.

President Volodymyr Zelensky cancelled planned trips abroad over the fresh offensive and the military was sending more troops to Kharkiv to hold back Russian advances, Kiev said.

Details of the withdrawal emerged as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was on an unannounced visit to Kiev where President Volodymyr Zelensky urged him to speed up U.S. supplies of weapons.

 Blinken announced on Wednesday the release of a further $2 billion in military aid for Ukrainian forces holding back Russian onslaughts across the front line.

The aid, which was announced at a press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, is part of a $61 billion package that Washington approved several weeks ago following months of delays in Congress.

Blinken said the purpose of the aid was "to provide weapons today" as well as invest in Ukrainian infrastructure and help Ukraine purchase military equipment from other countries.

"We have not encouraged or enabled strikes outside of Ukraine, but ultimately Ukraine has to make decisions for itself about how it's going to conduct this war," Blinken said.

Kuleba meanwhile repeated that Ukraine "urgently" needs seven more air defence systems and said the northeastern region of Kharkiv, which came under Russian attack last week, needs two systems.

He also said Ukraine needed faster deliveries of weapons promised by allied countries.

Moscow launched a surprise major ground assault on the Kharkiv region last week as it seeks to advance across the battlefield with Kiev struggling for arms and manpower.

"In certain spots in Lukyantsi and Vovchansk areas, due to the fire impact and assault actions of the enemy, manoeuvres were carried out in order to save the lives of our soldiers, units were removed to advantageous positions," a military spokesman said on state television.

Authorities in Vovchansk said there was intense street-to-street fighting in the border town that before the war had an estimated population of 20,000 people.

"We are here and are evacuating people and helping them. The situation in Vovchansk is extremely difficult," police chief Oleksiy Kharkivsky said on social media.

 'Additional forces being deployed' 

The interior ministry announced that three civilians had been killed in the Kharkiv region over the last 24 hours and that a Russian drone had wounded two policemen.

Throughout the two-year war, both sides have typically used the language of moving to more "advantageous positions" to signify retreats.

The two villages — around 30 kilometers (18 miles) apart — are close to the border with Russia and have been targeted in the fresh offensive.

The Ukrainian military said the situation "remains difficult" but insisted that its forces were "not allowing the Russian occupiers to gain a foothold".

Zelensky's spokesman said on social media that the president had postponed upcoming trips, including one to Spain, and reiterated that the military was rushing reinforcements to the area to prevent Russia from punching through.

"Additional forces are being deployed, and there are reserves," Zelensky's office said.

 'Difficult' fighting in east 

Some military analysts say Moscow may be trying to force Ukraine to divert troops from other areas of the front line, such as around the strategic town of Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region, where Russia has also been advancing.

"Donetsk and Kharkiv regions are where it is most difficult now," Zelensky said in an address on Tuesday evening.

Kiev on Wednesday ended some emergency power blackouts — including in the capital Kiev and frontline region of Donetsk — that it had introduced to deal with a drop in temperatures that strained its battered energy system.

State power operator Ukrenergo had announced a series of overnight and early morning power cuts to deal with "the cold weather amid the consequences of Russian shelling" that has destroyed swathes of Ukraine's generating facilities.

Blinken's visit came just weeks after the U.S. Congress finally approved a $61-billion financial aid package for Ukraine following months of political wrangling, unlocking much-needed arms for the country's outgunned troops.

It began as the Russian defense ministry announced that its troops had captured two more villages in the Kharkiv region. During a meeting with Blinken, Zelensky asked for two more Patriot air defense systems to defend the border territory.

On the second day of Blinken's trip, on Wednesday, he toured a drone production centre and grain export facility.

Ukrainian officials have said that more than 30,000 Russian forces have been deployed to the northeastern region but that the regional hub, the country's second-largest city of Kharkiv, was not threatened by the offensive.

Ukraine also launched aerial attacks on Russia, forcing the closure of two airports in the region of Tatarstan some 1,000 (620 miles) kilometers inside Russian territory.

Russian aerial defense systems intercepted and destroyed 17 drones across several border areas, as well as 10 ATACMS missiles over the annexed Crimean peninsula, the defense ministry said.