The US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) believes that Russia ordered the cross-border attack to draw Ukrainian soldiers away from the front line in the Donbas region, rather than actually take Kharkiv.

“Some Ukrainian forces have redeployed units to the Kharkiv direction from Donetsk Oblast, so Russian forces may be exploiting this perceived weakness of Ukrainian lines to intensify attacks, particularly in the Toretsk-Horlivka direction,” it said.

Toretsk is a town lying on the front line between Bakhmut and Donetsk that has been relatively quiet, although this week, eyewitnesses have reported intense Russian attacks.