Ukraine: Russian troops withdrawing from around Kharkiv

Ukrainian National Guard patrol during a reconnaissance mission in a recently retaken village on the outskirts of Kharkiv, east Ukraine (Bernat Armangue/AP)

Russian troops are withdrawing from around Ukraine’s second-largest city after bombarding it for weeks, the Ukrainian military said as Kyiv and Moscow’s forces engaged in a grinding battle for the country’s eastern industrial heartland.

Ukraine’s general staff said the Russians were pulling back from around the north-eastern city of Kharkiv and focusing on guarding supply routes, while launching mortar, artillery and air strikes in the eastern Donetsk province in order to “deplete Ukrainian forces and destroy fortifications”.