Russia's recently launched operations in Kharkiv Oblast look like a simulation of a large-scale attack with the use of limited resources or reconnaissance-in-force, a senior Ukrainian official said on May 10.
"The situation is under the control of the defense forces," Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the counter-disinformation department at Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said on Telegram.
Early on May 10, Ukraine's Defense Ministry reported that Russian forces launched an attempt to break through in Kharkiv Oblast. President Volodymyr Zelensky later confirmed that Russia was carrying out new offensive operations in the area.
"At the moment, it looks exactly like a simulation of a large-scale attack by the enemy with the use of limited forces and means, like reconnaissance-in-force," Kovalenko said.
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Kovalenko warned that the military operation is accompanied by a Russian information campaign that claims kilometers-deep breakthroughs. This is designed to sow panic in the information vacuum, he said.
"In some places, the situation is complicated, but under the control of our forces," Kovalenko noted.
Ukrainska Pravda reported that, according to undisclosed military sources, Russian forces captured the border villages of Strilecha, Krasne, Pylne, and Borysivka as they attempt to push toward Vovchansk.
Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov said instead that border settlements are in a "grey zone" and hostilities are ongoing there but that no ground was lost at the moment.
Read also: Defense Ministry: Russian forces attempt breakthrough in Kharkiv Oblast