Russia Opens A New Front In Ukraine: The Battle For Kharkiv

In a surprising turn, Russia has opened a new front in its invasion of Ukraine, launching an unexpected offensive in the northeastern region of Kharkiv. This shift in strategy comes after much of Russia's efforts this year focused on the eastern parts of Ukraine.

The assault, which began earlier this month, involved thousands of Russian soldiers breaching the northern border. This forced Ukraine to redeploy troops from other areas to defend critical positions.

This offensive illustrates how Russia is exploiting Ukraine’s key vulnerabilities: insufficient manpower, artillery shortages, sparse air defenses, and inadequate defensive fortifications.

Ukraine’s frontline brigades are holding on as they desperately await munitions from allies and fresh recruits to bolster their ranks.

Key Frontiers of the Conflict

CNN has identified three key frontiers where fighting is now intensifying, tracking the incremental gains Russia has made along a previously static frontline.

The Northern Front: Kharkiv

In the north, Moscow’s troops aim to position themselves within tube artillery range of Kharkiv city. Along the southern front, the battle continues to reclaim villages liberated during Ukraine’s counteroffensive last year and push further into Ukrainian territory.

Ukraine, meanwhile, is racing to address its current weak spots, finding itself on the back foot as it pledges to fight “house by house, street by street.”

The cross-border assault saw Russian forces quickly take control of several villages. Since then, Russia has ramped up its attacks in the area, aiming to seize key settlements like Vovchansk and Lyptsi.

Lyptsi, located around 30 kilometers north of Kharkiv, is under heavy Russian bombardment. Capturing this large village would enable Russian troops to position artillery within range of Kharkiv city, Ukraine’s second largest city, already vulnerable to missile attacks, as evidenced by a recent strike on a hardware store.

This attack also diverts Ukraine’s already stretched resources away from other front lines, creating a buffer zone against Ukrainian attacks on Russian border regions. The nearby Russian city of Belgorod, for instance, has increasingly come under Ukrainian attack in recent months.

The Eastern Front: Avdiivka and Bakhmut

Before the Kharkiv offensive, Russia had focused its efforts in the east, inching forward since October 2023 as Ukraine’s anticipated counteroffensive faltered last summer. Capturing Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, known as the Donbas, remains a major Kremlin goal.

In February, Russian troops achieved a significant victory by taking the town of Avdiivka. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that the decision to pull back was made to “save our soldiers’ lives” in the face of relentless Russian bombardment and a ten-to-one shell disadvantage.

Since then, Russian forces have steadily advanced westward towards Pokrovsk, a vital military hub for Ukraine's war effort.

To the north, the eastern city of Bakhmut was recaptured by Russian forces in spring last year following a grueling nine-month battle. Now, Russian troops are edging west towards Chasiv Yar. Gaining control of the high ground on which the town sits would bring Putin’s forces closer to the strategic city of Kramatorsk.

The Southern Front: The Battle for Robotyne

Further south, Ukrainian forces are under pressure southeast of Zaporizhzhia, one of the few areas where they achieved modest success in last summer’s counteroffensive.

Both Russian military bloggers and Ukraine’s DeepStateMap report small Russian advances into a pocket of recaptured Ukrainian territory.

Robotyne, a small village now completely destroyed, has changed hands several times during the war. Initially captured by Russian forces in early March 2022, Moscow again claimed control over it earlier this month, a claim denied by Ukraine.

The battle for Robotyne underscores the fluidity of the battlefield and starkly illustrates the nature of the fighting, with the war being decided in brutal battles over often abandoned villages.