MOSCOW: Russia’s defense ministry on Friday said its troops have captured three villages in Ukraine’s east Donetsk region, grinding closer to Kyiv’s key defensive line in the embattled area.
Russian forces are slowly but steadily gaining ground in costly meter-for-meter battles for largely devastated areas in eastern Ukraine, with few inhabitants or intact buildings left.
Moscow has captured “the settlements of Katerynivka, Volodymyrivka and Rusyn Yar in the Donetsk People’s Republic,” the ministry said on Telegram, using the name Moscow uses for the region that it claimed to have annexed in September 2022.
This comes as Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of not being interested in a sustainable peace, reducing the likelihood of a speedy meeting between the countries’ leaders to settle the conflict.
Ukraine has cut gas supply to the city of Kostiantynivka, an important stronghold town around two dozen miles away from the captured settlements, after the enemy’s shelling hit a pipeline.
