MOSCOW, September 9. /TASS/. Ukraine’s armed forces are delivering strikes on civilian infrastructure and residents using HIMARS MLRS in the Kupyansky district in the Kharkov Region, the head of the district military-civilian administration said on Friday.

"Ukrainian troops are trying to increase the destruction of administrative and civilian infrastructure and are striking civilians using HIMARS in a concentrated way," Maxim Gubin told the Rossiya-24 TV channel.

The official also noted that currently the main efforts of the military-civilian administration are focused on evacuating local residents for at least 3-4 days until the situation stabilizes.

On Thursday morning, head of the Kharkov Region’s military-civilian administration Vitaly Ganchev told TASS that the Ukrainian armed forces attempted to encircle the city of Balakleya in the Kharkov Region but were beaten back. Earlier, the official reported that Balakleya and the city of Izyum suffered from incessant shelling by Ukrainian troops. He stated that in recent days, the bombardments had intensified in the northern areas of the Kharkov Region, including along the border with Russia.

The forces of the Russian Federation and the Lugansk People’s Republic are in control of some areas in the Kharkov Region, with district administrations in Volchansk, Izyum, Kupyansk and the village of Kazachya Lopan, which are subordinate to the regional military-civilian administration. As Ganchev previously reported, 20% of the region’s territory had been liberated.