KHARKIV OBLAST, Feb 20 — Over the past day, the Russian military hit Staryi Saltiv, Chorne, Vilkhuvatka, Tabaivka, Pishchane, Synkivka, Petropavlivka, and Kupiansk in the Kharkiv Region with airstrikes. 

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces informed about this in a morning report.

In the Kupiansk direction, Russian troops unsuccessfully attempted to advance four times near Synkivka in the Kharkiv Oblast.

In the Slobozhanskyi direction, in the border areas, the Russian military conducts intense sabotage activities to prevent the deployment of Ukrainian troops to more dangerous directions and increases the density of minefields along the state border in the Belgorod Oblast.

On January 27-28, 2024, the Russians claimed the capture of the village of Tabaivka in the Kharkiv Oblast, but the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has no evidence to confirm this claim. At the same time, DeepState [interactive online map of hostilities in Ukraine — ed.] analysts reported that the Russians did occupy the village. At the time, ISW analysts noted in a report that the Russian army had recently made a confirmed advance northeast of Kupiansk.

Read more: Russian Troops Attacked Kharkiv Oblast With Airbombs, Artillery, and Mortars, Injuring Four Civilians

Earlier, the Russian troops captured the village of Krokhmalne in the Kharkiv Oblast. The Institute for the Study of War also reported this on January 20, 2024, citing geolocation images.
Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, confirmed to Gwara’s journalists that the “grey zone” in the Kharkiv Oblast had increased. According to him, the Russians are constantly trying to storm Ukrainian positions in the Kupiansk direction and terrorize the local population.