Fall of villages in Donetsk region would mark further advance towards strategic city of Kramatorsk; South Africa adds to calls for Zelenskyy-Putin summit. What we know on day 1,278
Russia says its forces have taken two villages in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, increasing the military pressure amid struggling international efforts to broker an end to the war. Moscow’s forces captured the villages of Sredneye and Kleban-Byk along the 1,000km (620 mile) frontline in Donetsk, the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram on Saturday. The taking of Kleban-Byk would mark a further advance towards Kostiantynivka – a key fortified town on the road to Kramatorsk, the location of a major Ukrainian logistics base. Russia said on Friday its troops had captured three villages in Donetsk. Ukraine’s military did not acknowledge that any of the villages had changed hands. On Saturday, Ukrainian military officials said on Telegram its forces had stopped a Russian advance and recaptured the village of Zeleny Gai in Donetsk. The village was being subjected to new Russian attacks, a military statement said. The battlefield reports could not be independently verified.
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa added his voice to calls for a Russia-Ukraine summit during a phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “President Ramaphosa stressed the urgency of holding bilateral and trilateral meetings between the leaders of Russia and Ukraine and the United States as key to signal a firm commitment to ending the war,” a statement from Ramaphosa’s office said on Saturday. Zelenskyy said he told Ramaphosa he was ready for any kind of meeting with Putin. “However, we see that Moscow is once again trying to drag everything out even further,” he posted on X. Ramaphosa spoke last Monday with Vladimir Putin, whom he has called a “dear ally”.
