MOSCOW: Russian forces have taken control of two more frontline settlements in key areas of eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region according to the Russian Defence Ministry.
Ukrainian officials did not address the Russian announcement concerning the two villages but President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv’s counter-offensive operation near the town of Dobropillia made progress.
Reuters could not independently verify battlefield accounts from either side.
The Russian Defence Ministry said its forces were now in control of Shandryholove and Zarichne both northeast of the city of Sloviansk.
It then issued a second statement saying Defence Minister Andrei Belousov had congratulated the unit for the bold and decisive actions that led to the capture of Zarichne.
Video released by Russia’s Ministry of Defence purports to show Russian troops moving from building to building and holding aloft a Russian flag as they take control of Shandryholove.
Moscow has been advancing slowly along the frontline crossing eastern and southern areas of Ukraine announcing the capture of new villages nearly every day.
Ukraine’s military made no acknowledgment of Zarichne changing hands but a lengthy media report on Saturday said the village was under Ukrainian control though Russian soldiers had entered parts of it.
Zelenskiy in his nightly video address said Ukraine’s Dobropillia counter-offensive near the key logistics centre of Pokrovsk was proceeding with Ukraine having recaptured 175 square kilometres.
Top Ukrainian commander Oleksandr Syrskyi who last week said the front line now extended over 1,250 kilometres provided similar details on the Dobropillia operation on Telegram.
Zelenskiy also said the situation was not easy in Kupiansk a town long under Russian attack in northeastern Kharkiv region and in parts of Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk region.
The popular Ukrainian war blog DeepState which uses open sources to track the positions of the two sides said Ukrainian forces had given up the village of Poltavka east of Dobropillia. – Reuters
