Ukraine war latest: Zelenskyy cancels foreign trips as fighting intensifies

The head of the Ukrainian police force in the Kharkiv region has described the situation in the town of Vovchansk as "extremely difficult". 

Oleksiy Kharkivskiy, Vovchansk's patrol police chief, said on Facebook that Russian forces are establishing positions inside the town. 

Yesterday Russia claimed it had taken parts of Vovchansk and the border village of Buhruvatka.

It is part of Moscow's pressing offensive on the Kharkiv region, which began on Friday after weeks of speculation that Russia was preparing to establish a new frontline there, and is forcing Ukraine to rush in reinforcements.

Russia has said it repelled a Ukrainian drone attack on the region of Tatarstan - around 497 miles east of Moscow.

The defence ministry said the attack occurred at around 7.30am local time.

It said Russian air defences had destoyed an aeroplane-style drone.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has cancelled a trip to Spain and Portugal, with some media outlets reporting it is because of renewed fighting in Ukraine.

King Felipe of Spain was due to hold a reception for Mr Zelenskyy on Friday. 

The Ukrainian leader was then expected to sign a bilateral security cooperation agreement with Portugal's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

A spokesperson for the Portuguese government said Mr Zelenskyy had cancelled the visit but did not give a reason, while the Spanish government said it could not comment for security reasons. 

As we have been reporting, Ukrainian troops remain outgunned by Russian forces.

Yesterday, the western and northern parts of Vovchansk in Ukraine's Kharkhiv region fell under the control of Russian forces, according to the TASS state news agency.

Emergency teams have been working at the scene of a Russian airstrike in Kharkiv.

The region is where Russian forces are pressing on with an offensive, forcing Ukraine to rush in reinforcements.

Apart from the devastation and the blow to Ukrainian morale in the region, home to Ukraine's second largest city of Kharkiv, the incursion is a distraction for Kyiv's defensive operations in the east where Russia has focused its offensive for months.

Fires at an oil depot and power substation in Russia's Belgorod and Lipetsk regions were caused by drones launched by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), a Ukrainian intelligence source has told Reuters.

The attack damaged Oskolneftesnab oil depot near the city
of Staryi Oskol in Russia's Belgorod region and Yeletskaya power substation in the Lipetsk region.

"Russian industry which works to wage war with Ukraine will
remain a legitimate target for the SBU," the intelligence source said.

"Measures to undermine the enemy's military potential will continue."

For context: Ukraine has been stepping up its strikes on oil and gas facilities across Russia in an effort to disrupt military logistics and combat operations - it is these facilities that supply fuel for Russian tanks, ships and fighter jets.

Experts also say that striking these sites will most likely cause disruption to Russia's energy network.

The region of Chasiv Yar, in the eastern Bakhmut region, has long been under fire.

It is in eastern areas like this that Russia's advance has been far more significant and strategically important.

But it is hoped that a weapons package from the US could change that.

Here, our security and defence editor Deborah Haynes visits an artillery position on the outskirts of the frontline region ...

The Russian defence ministry has said its air forces destroyed 10 long-range missiles known as ATACMS that Ukraine's military launched overnight at Crimea.

The ministry did not say whether there was any damage, but the Russia-installed governor of the Crimean port of Sevastopol said that missile debris fell onto a residential area.

According to early information, no one was injured, Mikhail Razvozhayev, the governor, said on Telegram.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine 10 years ago in a move broadly condemned by Kyiv's Western allies.

And Russia has often said, without providing evidence, that Ukraine had started using the US-supplied ATACMS.

Yesterday, a US official said that ATACMS and air defence interceptors approved by Joe Biden on 24 April were already reaching the Ukrainian forces.

Ukraine's military has said it is moving troops to new positions in two areas of the northeastern Kharkiv region where Moscow is pressing an offensive, and warned of a Russian force buildup to the north near its Sumy region.

A cross-border attack on a new flank in Sumy region would likely stretch Kyiv's depleted defenders even further after Russia's incursion into the Kharkiv region opened a new front on Friday, forcing Ukraine to rush in reinforcements.

Russia has made inroads into the north of Kharkiv region and
said yesterday it had taken parts of the town of Vovchansk and the border village, Buhruvatka.

Military spy chief Kyrylo Budanov has said Moscow has already committed all the troops it has in the border areas for the Kharkiv operation, but that it has other reserve forces that he expected to be used in the coming days.

"A rapid trend towards a stabilisation of the situation had emerged - that is, the enemy is, in principle, already blocked at the lines that it was able to reach," he said in televised comments.

Mr Budanov said Russia had small groups of forces in the border areas near Ukraine's Sumy region in the vicinity of the Russian town of Sudzha from where Russian natural gas transits into Ukraine by pipe on its way to European customers.

"As for the Sumy region, the Russians actually planned an operation in the Sumy region from the very beginning... but the situation did not allow them to take active actions and start the operation," he said.

Top Ukrainian officials say they do not believe Russia has the troop numbers to capture the city of Kharkiv.

Welcome back to our coverage of the Ukraine war.

Yesterday, US secretary of state Antony Blinken sought to rally the spirits of Ukrainians facing a fierce new Russian offensive during a trip to Kyiv.

He also told Ukrainian leaders that despite a months-long delay in US assistance that left them vulnerable to renewed Russian military strikes, more weaponry was coming and some had already arrived.

Here are the other key developments from the past 24 hours: 

• The western and northern parts of Vovchansk in Ukraine's Kharkhiv region fell under the control of Russian forces, according to the TASS state news agency;
• Russia's supreme court rejected an appeal by Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza against his 25-year jail sentence;
• A power line and nearly two dozen houses were damaged in Ukraine's latest air attack on the Russian border city of Belgorod, officials said;
• The operator of the Ukrainian high-voltage electricity grid, Ukrenergo, said it was starting "controlled emergency shutdowns" for industries and households because of "a significant shortage of electricity in the system due to Russian shelling and an increase in consumption due to the cold weather".

This map below shows the territorial picture in Ukraine...

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