A Ukrainian unit combating north of Kharkiv says it has reached the Russian border, with the message: "Mr President, we made it!"
Video launched by the unit exhibits a small group carrying a blue and yellow stake to the border line.
The Ukrainian army stated on Monday that round Kharkiv "the enemy is concentrating its essential efforts on sustaining its positions and stopping the advance of our troops" within the path of the border.
Over the previous few days, Ukrainian forces superior towards the border in a number of locations north and east of Kharkiv, the nation's second largest metropolis earlier than the invasion started, as Russian forces have withdrawn.
Ukrainian officers stated final week they had been liberating villages on the outskirts of the town.
Their advances threaten the symbolic embarrassment of expelling the Kremlin's forces again to their very own border whereas posing the strategic menace of reducing Russia's provide traces into Ukraine and its forces additional south within the Donbas area.
Ukrainian troops on Monday resisted tried Russian advances and even rolled again the entrance traces in locations. Over the previous few days, Moscow's forces pulled again from across the northeastern metropolis of Kharkiv after bombarding it for weeks.
And a glimmer of hope emerged for wounded Ukrainian troops trapped within the bombed stays of an enormous metal plant, the final stronghold of resistance within the port metropolis of Mariupol.
The Russian Defence Ministry introduced an settlement for the wounded to depart the steelworks for remedy in a city held by pro-Moscow separatists.
There was no instant affirmation from the Ukrainian aspect, and there was no phrase on whether or not the wounded could be thought of prisoners of struggle. Nor was it clear what number of fighters is likely to be evacuated.
As combating raged in jap Ukraine, the worldwide response to Russia's assault continued to select up tempo.
Sweden introduced that it'll search NATO membership, following the same determination from its neighbour Finland. That might be a historic shift on the European continent; the 2 nations have been nonaligned for generations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who launched the invasion in what he stated was an effort to examine NATO's growth however is now seeing that technique backfire, warned that a army buildup on the 2 nations' territory "will in fact give rise to our response in response".
NATO Secretary-Normal Jens Stoltenberg has stated the membership course of for each Finland and Sweden may very well be very fast, although member Turkey has expressed some reservations in regards to the transfer.
Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson stated that becoming a member of the 30-member army alliance is her nation's finest protection within the face of Russian behaviour.
"Sadly, we have now no motive to consider that the development (of Russia's actions) will reverse within the foreseeable future," she stated.
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Europe can also be working to choke off funding for the Kremlin's struggle by lowering the billions of dollars it spends on imports of Russian vitality.
However a proposed EU embargo on imports of Russian oil faces opposition from a small group of nations led by Hungary, which is considered one of quite a few landlocked nations extremely depending on the imports, together with the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Bulgaria additionally has reservations.
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