Ukraine said on Saturday (23) that it recaptured three towns near Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city in the east, while the Russian army is focused on the Donbass and south.

“Our Ukrainian army launched a successful counterattack yesterday morning. After long and heavy fighting, our troops pulled the Russian troops out of Bezruki, Slatine and Prudyanka,” Kharkiv regional governor Oleg Synegubov told Telegram.

Prudyanka is located about 15 kilometers from the Russian border.

Synegubov said that two people were killed and 19 injured in the bomb attacks carried out in the Kharkov region of Russia in the last 24 hours.

According to a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, Kharkiv was “partially blocked” by Russian forces. First of all, they still exist in the northwest and strengthen their position in the “south of the city”.

Ukrainian Presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich said that in the Donbass, a region that Moscow wants to maintain full control over, Russian troops are “concentrated in the region between Slaviansk and Kramatorsk”, an agglomeration located in the Donetsk province.

The Russians are “conducting offensive and reconnaissance operations to try to find weaknesses in our defence,” he added.

Further south, in the province of Zaporizhia, an area that is also a priority target for Russian forces, they are “trying to continue their offensive in the city of Gulyaypole”, midway between the city of the same name and the port of Mariupol.