More than 4,000 Ukrainians are evacuated around Kharkiv after Russia blitzed country's second-largest city in surprise cross-border attack

More than 4,000 people have been evacuated from border areas in Ukraine's Kharkiv region after Russia blitzed the city in a surprise cross-border attack that began on Friday.

The local governor of Ukraine's second-largest city, Oleg Synegubov, shared the devastating news on Sunday in a post on social media.  

'In total, 4,073 people have been evacuated,' governor Synegubov wrote, a day after Russian forces claimed the capture of five villages in the region.

Synegubov said that on Sunday a 63-year-old man was killed by artillery fire in the village of Glyboke and a 38-year-old man was wounded in Vovchansk, a border town with some 3,000 residents before the current offensive.

Ukraine on Friday announced that Russia had launched an attack in the Kharkiv region, amid fears tyrant Vladimir Putin seeks to seize the nation's second city.

Kyiv's troops pushed back Russian forces from most of Kharkiv region in late 2022, but Moscow has now been making small advances into a border zone as war-weary Ukrainians struggle with ammunition and manpower shortages.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that Ukrainian troops had been carrying out counterattacks in border villages in Kharkiv region.

'Disrupting Russian offensive plans is now our number one task,' he said.

Troops must 'return the initiative to Ukraine', the president insisted, again urging allies to speed up arms deliveries.

Ukrainian officials had warned for weeks that Moscow might try to attack its northeastern border regions, pressing its advantage as Ukraine struggles with delays in Western aid and manpower shortages.

When the Russian offensive began on Friday, the Ukrainian defence ministry said: 'At approximately 5:00am (0200 GMT), the enemy attempted to break through our defence line under the cover of armoured vehicles'.

A high-ranking Ukrainian military source said Russia had advanced into Ukraine by just over half a mile close to the town of Vovchansk and was trying to 'create a buffer zone' to prevent attacks into Russian territory.

'The city is constantly under fire,' said Oleksiy Kharkivsky, a senior police officer from Vovchansk helping to coordinate the evacuations.

'Everything in the city is being destroyed... You hear constant explosions, artillery, mortars. The enemy is hitting the city with everything they have,' he said, speaking at an evacuation point in a village near Vovchansk.

Kharkivsky said one person who was trapped under rubble had died overnight and 'several people were killed by shelling' on Saturday.

He estimated that around 1,500 people had been evacuated or fled Vovchansk since Friday and said there had been 32 drone strikes on the town over the past 24 hours.

He said evacuation teams had come under fire 'many times'.

The current advances are the Kremlin's biggest land offensives in the region since it unleashed terror in February 2022, when the war began.

President Zelensky said: 'Russia launched a new wave of counter-offensive actions in this area. Ukraine met them there with our troops, brigades and artillery...

'Now there is a fierce battle under way in this direction,' he said in a press conference in Kyiv.

Ukraine had previously said it was aware that Russia was assembling thousands of troops along the northeastern border, close to the Kharkiv and Sumy regions.

'The entire town is under massive shelling now, it is not safe to stay here,' Vovchansk administration head Tamaz Hambarishvili told Ukraine's Hromadske Radio.

The town, which has a population of 3,000 people, sits less than five miles across the border from Russia. Evacuations were underway there and in nearby areas on Friday.

One person was killed and several were wounded in the town amid shelling on Friday morning, regional police said.

'Enemy shelling from various types of weapons has been intensifying in Kharkiv region in the northern direction for the last day,' regional governor Oleh Synehubov said.

Vitaliy Ganchev, the Russian-installed official in the region, confirmed there was fighting near the border and urged civilians to take shelter.

'In this regard, I ask residents living in these areas to be careful and not to leave shelters without an urgent need,' he added.

The start of Friday's ground assault came after Russia launched a blizzard of missiles and kamikaze drones on Kharkiv on Thursday night.

Synehubov said three residential houses were set alight and destroyed with dozens more damaged as a result of the Russian attack, which he said targeted both infrastructure and residential areas.

In photos that he posted on the Telegram messaging app, huge flames can be seen engulfing buildings as thick clouds of smoke were sent billowing into the air.

Two people, including an 11-year-old child, were injured in the strikes, according to reports.

Ukraine's air defence systems destroyed 10 attack drones, the air force said, but added that two guided missiles were also launched by Moscow's forces.

These missiles are believed to have caused the damage to the residential buildings.