Glide bombs, missiles and drones: The aerial bombardment raining down on Ukraine’s troops around Kharkiv

Askold Krushelnycky speaks to a soldier relocated from another part of the front line to hold back an attack by Russia – and local residents being forced to evacuate because of the brutal fighting

A Ukrainian serviceman of the 92nd separate assault brigade guards an area near the town of Vovchansk in Kharkiv region (Reuters)

Missiles, glide bombs – with attached wings or GPS – rockets and drones. This is the aerial bombardment raining down on Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, launched by Vladimir Putin’s forces from inside Russia.

It has been backed by a ground assault, as thousands of Moscow’s soldiers have poured across the border and tried to push towards the city of Kharkiv itself. The fiercest battles have focused on the town of Vovchansk, close to the border and around 40 miles from Kharkiv. Russian forces initially overcame weak Ukrainian fortifications, penetrating a few miles and capturing two pockets with a total area of about 50 square miles.

They took a string of villages before Ukrainian reinforcements stemmed their advance. On a visit by The Independent to the area, a Ukrainian army vehicle, with only three wheels, clattered to a halt on the road. As one of his comrades pulled out tools and started work repairing the vehicle, a soldier codenamed “American” explained what had happened to the wheel: “A Russian drone with a bomb spotted us on the road. We were racing as fast as possible but couldn’t outrun it. It dropped its bomb but luckily, it hit the asphalt, not us. But it still destroyed our wheel.”