Russian forces have made two cross border assaults inside northern Ukraine, according to information from Ukrainian sources and officials – in what President Volodymyr Zelensky is calling a ‘new wave of counteroffensive actions” by Russia.

Ukrainian officials suspect that Moscow plans to take Kharkiv as part of establishing a buffer zone between the Ukrainian and Russian borders as the war drags on.

Ukraine says it has repelled a Russian armoured attack in the north-eastern Kharkiv region, after Moscow's forces launched an incursion across the border and sought to break through defensive lines. Kharkiv regional head Oleh Syniehubov said Russian reconnaissance groups had tried to penetrate the border,