Pressure on Russian forces increases after Ukrainian advance

Andrii Iezyk shows the destroyed flat in his house in the recently retaken area of Izium, Ukraine (AP)

Western defence officials and analysts have said they believe Russian forces are setting up a new defensive line in Ukraine’s north-east after Kyiv’s troops broke through the previous one and tried to press their advances further into the east.

Ukrainian forces continue to cross the key Oskil River in the Kharkiv region as they try to press on in a counter-offensive targeting Russian-occupied territory, according to the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War.