Ukraine’s military repelled attempts by Kremlin forces to push further into the northern Kharkiv region early Saturday, the country’s General Staff said.

Intense fighting has been seen since Moscow’s troops, supported by newly-arrived armored vehicles, staged an assault near the town of Vovchansk on Friday and advanced by about one kilometer, said a senior Ukrainian military official.

Russia aims to create a 10-kilometer so-called “buffer zone” that pushes Kyiv’s troops further from the border and reduces their ability to strike into Russian territory, with the ultimate aim of intensifying attacks on Ukraine’s eastern areas, said the official, who asked not to be named while discussing non-public information.

The US-based Institute for the Study of War said Moscow’s goal in the Kharkiv region appears focused more on distracting Ukrainian forces than on regaining territory liberated by Ukraine in 2022, months after it was seized at the start of Russia’s invasion of its neighbor.

While the operation has made tactically significant gains, it probably “has limited operational objectives but is meant to achieve the strategic effect of drawing Ukrainian manpower and material from other critical sectors,” ISW said in a report on Friday.

“Russian forces will likely leverage their tactical foothold in northern Kharkiv oblast in the coming days to intensify offensive operations,” ISW added.

Ukraine’s troops continue to operate on prepared defensive lines, the General Staff said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in his Friday night address to nation, said Kyiv “understands the size of the Russian forces,  sees their intentions, and makes necessary decisions.”

Civilians in settlements near the new front in the embattled Kharkiv region have been asked to evacuate. Regional governor Oleh Synehubov said at least three were killed and seven injured in the town of Vovchansk and surrounding areas, miles from the Russian border, due to ongoing shelling, and that about 2,000 had been moved to safer areas.

Separately, an oil depot in Rovenky, in the Luhansk region occupied by Russia, was attacked by Ukrainian weaponry late Friday, local authorities said.

They assumed a strike by a US ATACMS system but offered no evidence or further details. Four people were killed and 11 injured in the ensuing explosion, Tass reported, citing regional health minister. One man was killed in Russia’s Kursk region in a Ukrainian drone attack, the region’s governor said.

A person in Ukrainian law enforcement said that Kyiv on Thursday foiled an attempt by Russian operatives to conduct a terror attack in Kyiv.

The alleged perpetrators were arrested and evidence collected, said the person, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. Russian authorities didn’t immediately comment.

Zelenskiy late Thursday fired the head of the unit that protects Ukraine’s top officials following the arrest of two colonels who were allegedly involved in a Russian plot to assassinate the president.

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