Russia Has No Plans to Take Kharkov Under Control Now - Putin

Russia has no plans to take control of Kharkov, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with students and teachers of the Harbin Institute of Technology.

"As for Kharkov, there are no such plans as of today," the president said.

Russia is making gains in the fighting in the Kharkov region, he also said, adding that the Russian armed forces are moving every day strictly according to plan.

Putin blamed the Ukrainian forces for what was happening in Kharkov region.

"They are shooting directly at the center of the city, at residential areas. And I said publicly that if this continues, we will be forced to create a security zone, a sanitary zone," Putin said.

On May 12, Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged the "extremely difficult" situation in the Kharkov region for the Ukrainian military amid Russia's advance.

Last week, the Russian Defense Ministry said that its North battlegroup had taken control over the villages of Gatyshche, Krasnoe, Morokhovets, Olenekovoe, Borysovka, Ogurtsovo, Pleteneevka, Pilna and Strelecha in the Kharkov region. The head of Russia-controlled territories in the Kharkov region, Vitaly Ganchev, said that the Russian troops were now controlling the western and northern parts of the border city of Volchansk, while Ukraine was sending reinforcements.