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This blog is now closed. Ukrainian president says evacuation of injured soldiers has begun; Erdoan says no need for visits to try to persuade him

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The governor of Ukraine's Kharkiv region has said that Ukrainian troops defending Kharkiv have reached the state border with Russia.

Reuters said it could not independently verify the comments made by Kharkiv region governor Oleh Sinegubov on the Telegram messaging service. It was not immediately clear how many troops had reached the Russian border and where.

Kharkiv region governor Oleh Sinegubov wrote on the Telegram messaging app that troops of the 227th Battalion had restored a sign on the state border.

When we see that in our neighbourhood also other democratic countries belong to Nato, it would mean that we could have broader joint exercises and also ... more defence cooperation.

We have seen some differences, but we have also seen a willingness of those countries to overcome the differences.