Defence forces have stabilised the situation in Kharkiv Region. The Russian army has been stopped on the first line of defence. There is also a second and most powerful third line of defence - the concrete line.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this during a conversation with journalists, an LB.ua correspondent reports.
"We had a substantive meeting with Syrskyy, Sodol, Drapatyy. And also with the border guards - Serhiy Deyneko. With the National Police. Today, our Defence Forces have stabilised the Russians where they are now. The deepest point of their advance is 10 kilometres. There is no advancement at all in the directions of some enemy brigades - and there has never been any," the President said.
The Head of State stressed that we have very powerful brigades.
"We have now reinforced several areas with separate battalions - something that could have been taken from the reserve somewhere and from some directions. Russians are crossing the border because they lack air defence systems. They are at a distance where they have an advantage, using air bombs and artillery," he added.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that the Russian military had not reached the concrete defence line in Kharkiv Region.
"It is nonsense what they say. The enemy has reached the first line. The first line is not a border, it is impossible to build (fortifications) there because our people were killed by the specific weapons used by the Russians... The first and second lines are built by the military, and the third line is built by local authorities. It is the most powerful - not because they are better than the military, but simply because it is farther from weapons, from shells, from shelling," the President said.
Instead, the Head of State emphasised that Russians still plan to capture Vovchansk.
"Apart from the fact that they want a 10-kilometre zone, they want to always build on the success, if there is any. But the main thing for today is that our Defence Forces have stabilised the situation," Volodymyr Zelenskyy assured.