Russia smashes train tracks in a battered Ukrainian border region where children are being evacuated

By ILLIA NOVIKOV
Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Officials say a nighttime Russian attack has destroyed train tracks and rolling stock in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region. Ukrainian authorities are organizing the evacuation of children from the area being pummeled by the Kremlin’s forces in a powerful new offensive. Authorities say they have evacuated more than 11,000 people from the Kharkiv region since Russia launched an offensive there on May 10. Officials on Friday announced the mandatory evacuation of 123 orphans and children living without their parents in the area. Russia’s Kharkiv push appears to be a coordinated new offensive that includes testing Ukrainian defenses in the Donetsk region further south while also launching incursions in the northern Sumy and Chernihiv regions.