Ukrainian defences were “built in the wrong place” to halt Russia’s Kharkiv offensive, a prominent Ukrainian journalist has claimed.

Kyiv is now building defensive lines in more “tactically advantageous” positions after it found the main battles were taking place where positions were “not equipped”, said Yuriy Butusov, a Ukrainian journalist reporting from the front line.  

It comes as Russia said Sunday it had captured four more villages in the Kharkiv region, as thousands of residents were evacuated from the offensive in an area where Russian troops were repelled in 2022.

Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, said “fierce fighting” was under way and governor Oleg Synegubov said “all areas” of the regional border with Russia were now “under enemy fire almost around the clock”.

Russian troops have become bogged down trying to take the city of Vovchansk, and the border villages of Hlyboke, Starytsia and Liptsi, according to Mr Butusov.

On the first day of the offensive, the command of the “Kharkiv” military unit was replaced by a “man with experience and competence”, Mr Butusov reports.

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