Russian forces have advanced one kilometer (0.62 mile) into Ukraine’s northeast Kharkiv region near Vovchansk, a high-ranking Ukrainian military source said on Friday.

According to Reuters, the source said the Russian military was aiming to advance as much as 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) into the region in an effort to establish a buffer zone. Ukrainian forces were fighting to hold back Moscow’s advance.

More reports are coming to us on the situation in the Kharkiv region.

Ukraine defence ministry said on Friday that it has sent military reinforcements to help repel Russian attacks in border areas of the Kharkiv region in the northeast.

It added that Russian troops tried to break through with armoured vehicles in the early morning but were beaten back, Reuters reported.

The ministry said:

At approximately 5 am, there was an attempt by the enemy to break through our defensive line under the cover of armoured vehicles.

As of now, these attacks have been repulsed; battles of varying intensity continue.

Although Russia’s offensive is focused on the Donetsk region, Kyiv has noted a recent build up of troops near the Kharkiv region.

Ukrainian civilians from the Kharkiv region town of Vovchansk and surrounding areas on Friday are being evacuated because of intensified Russian shelling, a local official said.

Tamaz Gambarashvili, head of the Vovchansk military administration, told Ukraine’s Hromadske radio:

The majority are leaving using their own transport. But at the same time, together with the humanitarian centre, we are organising transport for those who do not have cars.

Russia’s Victory Day parade was “reduced in scale” compared to previous pre-war parades, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said.

Parades were cancelled in 24 cities, primarily those cities in the regions that border Ukraine likely owing to “poor security”. This compares to 21 cancelled parades in 2023, the MoD added.

Of the 30 units on pararade “over two thirds” were sourced from “military academies, youth and veteran groups”. Domestic security and emergency service grouos were also on parade. In total 9,000 military cadets, veterans and service personnel took part compared to 8,000 in 2023. In 2021, before the war in Ukraine, the participants totalled 11,000.

And there was an “absence of heavy armoured vehicles or tracked military vehicles” and there was just one main battle tank present compared to the 2020 parade which included 20.

The MoD said:

With the significant losses in Russian personnel and equipment as a result of the Ukraine war there was no opportunity for Russia to use the parades to demonstrate military strength.

Good morning and welcome to our live blog as the time passes 10am in Kyiv and Moscow.

Russian attacks across Ukraine have killed two people and injured 13 over the past day, regional authorities said. Civilian casualties in Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, and Donetsk oblasts were reported. Governor Serhiy Lysak said a Russian attack on Nikopol in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast killed a 62-year-old man and a 65-year-old woman and injured eight others, according to The Kyiv Independent.

This morning Vladimir Putin has reappointed Mikhail Mishustin as Russia’s prime minister with Associated Press reporting that the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, will hold a session later today to consider his candidacy. It writes that his approval is “a mere proforma in the Kremlin-controlled parliament”.

In line with Russian law, Mishustin, 58, who held the job for the past four years, submitted his Cabinet’s resignation on Tuesday when Putin began his fifth presidential term at a glittering Kremlin inauguration.

AP notes that his reappointment was “widely expected” and say Putin “values his skills and lack of political ambition. Mishustin, the former head of Russia’s tax service, has kept a low profile, steering clear of political statements and avoiding media interviews.”

Meanwhile Reuters says that there is no indication that Putin plans a big reshuffle of the government, which includes veteran Sergei Shoigu, in charge of Russia’s defence since 2012, and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in charge of Russia’s diplomacy for two decades. Analysts say that keeping his government intact would send a message of stability and of Putin’s satisfaction with his team’s progress at home and abroad, Reuters reports.

However, there has been upheaval in Kyiv where the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, last night dismissed the head of the department responsible for his personal protection on Thursday, two days after two of its members were accused of plotting to assassinate him. Zelenskiy issued a decree dismissing the head of the state guards, Serhiy Rud. No successor was identified.

In other news:

• Ukraine destroyed all 10 drones as Russia launched an overnight attack in the Kharkiv region, but two people were injured and residential buildings were consumed by fire as a result, Ukrainian officials said on Friday. The air force said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that Russia also launched two anti-aircraft guided missiles.

• A Ukraine drone attack set an oil refinery in Russia’s Kaluga region on fire, RIA state news agency reported on Friday, citing emergency services sources.
  Vladislav Shapsha, governor of the Kaluga region which borders the broader Moscow region, said on the Telegram messaging app that the fire was promptly extinguished. He did not say at what facility it took place. However, RIA reported that three containers with diesel fuel and one with fuel oil were consumed by the fire at the Pervyi Zavod refinery in Kaluga.

• A solitary, symbolic tank has featured in Russia’s annual 9 May military parade for the second year in a row as the country was forced to pare down its normal display of military might during a full-scale war in which it has suffered unprecedented losses over the last two years.