Pressure On Russian Forces Mounts After Ukraine’s Advances

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Western defense officials and analysts say said they believe Russian forces are setting up a new defensive line in Ukraine’s northeast after Kyiv’s troops broke through the previous one and tried to press their advances further into the east. The British defense ministry said that the line likely was between the Oskil River and Svatove, southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city. The new line comes after a Ukrainian counteroffensive punched a hole through the previous front line and recaptured large swaths of land in the northeastern Kharkiv region. Ukrainian forces are continuing to cross a key river as they try to press on in a counteroffensive targeting Russian-occupied territory in the country’s northeast, according to a Washington-based think tank.