Fierce fighting was raging on Saturday for control of several Ukrainian villages near close to the country’s eastern border with Russia.

Further north the Russian military sought to press home its attacks in the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, the region’s governor said. “As of now the enemy keeps pressing in the north of our region. Our forces have repelled nine attacks,” he told a media briefing.

Eslewhere, Russia’s defense ministry said its forces had taken five border villages in…