Russia reinforces Kharkiv in bid to counter Ukraine push

KHARKIV REGION, Ukraine, Sept 09 (AFP): Russia said on Friday it was dispatching reinforcements to the Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine where Kyiv's forces have announced robust gains as part of a broader counter-offensive.

State media broadcast footage of columns of Russian tanks, support vehicles and artillery travelling along paved roads and dirt tracks, emblazoned with the letter "Z", the symbol of Moscow's invasion.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Russia's push to send reinforcements showed Moscow was paying "huge costs" in its bid to capture and hold Ukrainian territory.

A Moscow-installed official in the region, Vitaliy Ganchev, said in televised remarks that "fierce battles" were under way near Balakliya, a town in the Kharkiv region that Ukraine said it had recaptured on Thursday.