MOSCOW, May 24. /TASS/. Ukrainian troops are still facing a tenuous situation in the northern Kharkov Region, with Kiev reporting issues near the Volchansk sector of the line of engagement and deteriorating conditions near Kupyansk.

"Mikhail Drapaty, commander of the Kharkov operational-tactical group of forces, reported on the situation in the area controlled by this battlegroup, in particular, in the Volchansk direction. It remains tense," reads a statement posted on the website of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky who has visited Kharkov for a second time since May 16.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s General Staff said on its Telegram channel that the fiercest fighting is currently taking place near Kupyansk.

On May 16, Zelensky chaired a meeting at the Ukrainian commander-in-chief’s headquarters in Kharkov as he described the situation there as extremely complicated. On May 14, the Ukrainian General Staff said that its armed forces had been coerced into "moving to more favorable positions" near Volchansk and Lukyantsy.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported earlier that a number of settlements had been liberated n the Kharkov Region. On May 22, the head of the region’s military-civilian administration, Vitaly Ganchev, told reporters that Russian forces had liberated 49 settlements in the Kharkov Region, including 36 localities near Kupyansk and 13 others in the region’s north.