Ukraine faces Russian resistance in frontline Kupyansk

Ukraine's troops retook almost all of the Kharkiv region in their lightning counter-offensive, but in the city of Kupyansk -- split in two by the Oskil River -- Russian forces are fighting to hold on.

So recent is the Ukrainian victory in Kupyansk, a rail hub, that billboards erected by President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party still loom over smashed shop fronts, while shells whistle overhead.

The Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine was an early target of Russia's invasion in February this year, and Kyiv's counterattack this month was hailed as a potential turning point in the war.

In the past two weeks, Ukraine has pushed the Russians back from the fields around the regional capital Kharkiv and has liberated a string of villages -- along with most of Kupyansk.

They have still not quite completed the symbolic feat of forcing Russia out of the entire Kharkiv region, and back into Donetsk, the eastern region the Kremlin insists was its main target all along.

A steady stream of civilians were seeking transport out of Kupyansk, fleeing the shellfire and what locals said was the week-long failure of water and electricity supplies.

Most of the noise is outgoing fire from Ukrainian tanks and artillery.

In his daily address, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine is “stabilising the situation in the Kharkiv region” and “firmly” holding positions. He adds the pace of providing aid to Ukraine should "correspond" with the pace of military action.