Dramatic vids show ‘first terrifying firefights of Putin’s Kharkiv push’ as stunned Ukrainians say ‘It’s the Russians!’

THIS is the dramatic moment Ukrainian fighters clashed with Putin's army in a shootout on the first day of Kharkiv offensive.

Kyiv is vehemently pushing the enemy back as Russian troops close in on Kharkiv after launching a surprise new assault on Friday.

The footage shows Ukrainian soldiers engaged in combat after getting ambushed by Russian forces.

The stunned Ukrainians can be heard screaming "It's the Russians" as they opened fire on enemy troops.

Putin's soldiers can be heard ordering Kyiv's army to surrender but the brave soldiers were seen reloading their guns and firing back instead.

At one moment, Ukrainian troops say: "There's a lot of them", as they realise they're outnumbered but continue to push through.

In a separate clip, Russians are seen heavily bombarding Ukrainian special forces near the frontline.

The video, reportedly from the Kharkiv region, shows soldiers hiding from the artillery fire in a forest before turning around and running for cover.

Russia has briefly surrounded Vovchansk, a city on the outskirts of the region, before Ukraine's military "pushed the enemy back".

Putin's army has gained some "tactical successes" as it claims to have captured nine villages at the north-eastern front.

Close to 40,000 troops and some 500 tanks had marched along the border ahead of the large-scale ground invasion Kyiv had feared was coming for weeks.

But despite numerical advantage, Vlad is said to be suffering record losses with 1,740 reportedly killed on Sunday.

The fighting raged on yesterday as over 30 villages and towns were "struck by enemy" artillery, wounding at least nine people.

Ukraine is now desperately trying to hold the line against Russia as they suffer ammunition shortages before promised Western weapons shipments can reach the frontline.

Ukrainian soldiers said the Kremlin is using the tried-and-tested Russian tactic of launching human wave attacks - sending forward a disproportionate amount of infantry units to exhaust Ukrainian troops and firepower. 

A senior Ukrainian military source said Russian forces were trying to push Ukrainian troops as far back as 10km inside Ukraine as part of a bid to create a "buffer zone" 

Over 6,000 residents have been forced to evacuate as their homes are battered by Putin's advancing troops, officials said.

Ukraine rushed in reserve units as fighting raged in the border areas of the Kharkiv region, the defence ministry said.

The Institute for the Study of War said it's unlikely Russia will be able to take Kharkiv - but opening a new front in the war could force Ukraine to send in more troops, leaving other areas vulnerable to attack.

Russia's defence ministry said on Monday that troops had "improved the tactical position and dealt a blow to (Ukrainian) manpower" around border villages including Lyptsi and the town of Vovchansk.

Sergiy Kryvetchenko, deputy head of Lyptsi said: "They are shelling the villages, firing on everything they can."

He added: "The KABs (guided aerial bombs) are flying. The artillery is flying. Drones. Everything."

Rybar, a Russian Telegram channel with military links, said Moscow's offensive led to territorial gains because troops took some villages where Russian soldiers already had a presence and others that were "deserted wastelands".

As of Monday morning, there were no "large-scale breakthroughs of the enemy's defences", Rybar said.

At an evacuation point near Kharkiv's frontline, dozens of mostly elderly and disorientated evacuees were resting.

"We weren't going to leave. Home is home," said 72-year-old Lyuda Zelenskaya, hugging a trembling cat named Zhora.

Liuba Konovalova, 70, said she had endured a "really terrifying" night before her evacuation.

Oleksiy Kharkivsky, a senior police officer from Vovchansk, said: "Everything in the city is being destroyed... You hear constant explosions, artillery, mortars. The enemy is hitting the city with everything they have," he said.

In 2022, Ukraine chased Russian troops out of most of the Kharkiv region following Russia's full-scale invasion.

But after weathering a Ukrainian counteroffensive last year, Russian forces are back on the offensive and slowly advancing in the Donetsk region that lies further south.