UKRAINE, KHARKIV OBLAST, Jul 15 — In the Kharkiv direction, Russian troops attacked Ukrainian positions near Vovchansk and Hlyboke ten times over the past day. The Russians used aviation to support the infantry, reported the General Staff.

Russia started their new offensive north and northeast in the Kharkiv region in May, but Ukrainian troops have stabilized the frontline in this section since. Now, heavy battles are ongoing in and around Vovchansk (three miles from the border, 46 miles away from Kharkiv) and near Lyptsi (six miles from the border, 12 miles from Kharkiv.)

The General Staff reported that in the Kupiansk direction, Russians attacked Ukrainian positions three times yesterday, near Pishchane in the Kharkiv region and Stelmakhivka in the Luhansk region. Ukrainian forces repelled the assaults. 

According to the report, the Russians also hit Starytsia, Vovchansk, Vovchanski Khutory, Lyptsi, Veterynarne, Borshchove, Hlyboke, Pishchane, Kivsharivka, Petropavlivka in the Kharkiv region with air strikes.

Andrii Demchenko, a spokesman for the State Border Guard Service, said during a telethon on July 12 that the Russian army is most actively building up forces in the Kharkiv direction, where active hostilities are taking place.

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  • In the Lyptsi direction, like in almost all areas of the front, Russian troops create small infantry groups of four to six people and advance mostly in bad weather. The military notes that the Russians learned this from the Ukrainian army.