Ukraine halts Russia’s Kharkiv advance Crimea drone attacks knock out power, planes

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine said its forces had slowed the Russian advance in the war’s new hotspot as Moscow said Friday a massive wave of drones attacked several regions of the country, including occupied Crimea.

A week after Russian troops swept over the border, taking a dozen villages and opening a new front in the northeastern Kharkiv region, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his troops had stabilized the situation and that the Russians had advanced by no more than 6 miles into Ukrainian territory.

The Russian forces had reached the first line of Ukraine’s defenses in the area, Zelenskyy said in a meeting with reporters late Thursday, adding that insufficient air defense had allowed the enemy to cross into the region, giving it an opportunity to strike from a distance at which it can operate air bombs and artillery.

Zelenskyy said that he Russian military’s main goal is to seize the key town of Vovchansk, just three miles from the border, where the two sides have been locked in fierce street battles there over the past week.

Thousands of residents have been forced to evacuate from the border area, though Ukraine’s military said Thursday it had stopped the Russian advance in Vovchansk.