MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s defence ministry said on Saturday the army had gained control of the settlement of Shevchenko, near the logistical centre of Pokrovsk, a key Russian target in its advance through Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
Ukraine’s military made no mention of the village in its latest account of front-line activity, but said Russia had launched more than 50 attacks against its forces’ positions near Pokrovsk in the past 24 hours.
The Russian military report said its forces’ “decisive action” had culminated in the capture of Shevchenko, which lies about 3 km (2 miles) west of Pokrovsk.
The report also said that Russian troops launched strikes carried out by aircraft, drones and missiles on Ukrainian military airfields and energy infrastructure that service its army.
The report gave no further details on the assaults.
Ukraine’s General Staff said its forces had repelled 46 of 56 Russian attacks around about a dozen towns in the Pokrovsk sector. Ten clashes were still going on.
The governor of the part of Donetsk region held by Ukrainian forces, Vadym Filashkin, said one resident was killed and four injured when a village north of Pokrovsk came under Russian shelling.
Russian forces have been steadily advancing westward in Donetsk region for several months, recording their fastest progress since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia’s RIA news agency issued what it said was its first report from one of its correspondents from Kurakhove, another logistics centre south of Pokrovsk.
Russia’s military announced the capture of Kurakhove earlier this week.
Ukraine has yet to acknowledge the loss of the town, but the popular Ukrainian blog DeepState, which collates information from open sources, said the town was in Russian hands.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Ron Popeski; Editing by Mark Potter and Nick Zieminski)
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