UKRAINE, KHARKIV OBLAST, Jul 18 — In the Kharkiv direction, Russian troops attacked Ukrainian positions 20 times near Hlyboke and Vovchansk yesterday. During the assaults, the Russian army actively used bomber aircraft to carry out the attacks, reported the General Staff.

Russia started its 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.)

In the Kupiansk direction, there were 11 Russian attacks over the past day. Ukrainian defense forces repelled all Russian assaults near Synkivka, Novoosynove, Andriivka, Berestove, and Stelmakhivka, reported the General Staff.

According to the report, the Russians also hit Hlyboke, Lyptsi, Mali Prokhody, Starytsia, and Synkivka in the Kharkiv region with air strikes.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during a speech at the Ronald Reagan Institute in America that in May and June, the Ukrainian army stopped the Russian offensive on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city

Zelenskyy said the Russian army received orders to move up in the region close enough for artillery fire to reach Kharkiv, but “the courage of our men and women, as well as America’s permission to strike military targets in Russia, did their job.” 

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  • The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on June 12 that the Ukrainian forces targeted one S-300 air defense battery and two S-400 air defense batteries near occupied Belbek and Sevastopol in Crimea overnight.