Russia claims new villages in eastern Ukraine

MOSCOW: Russia on Sunday claimed the capture of two villages in eastern Ukraine where its forces have been steadily advancing for months.

The defence ministry said forces had captured the village of Yantarne in the eastern Donetsk region, around 10-kms southwest of Kurakhove, a key logistics hub that Moscow claimed to have seized last week.

On Saturday, Russia´s army said it had also taken new territory northwest of Kurakhove.

The defence ministry said Sunday that Russian troops had also captured the village of Kalinove in the northeastern Kharkiv region.

The village is on the western bank of the Oskil River, which for a long time formed the front line between the two armies in the region.

But a Ukrainian official said on Thursday that Russian forces had managed to establish a bridgehead on the western bank after crossing the river.

Russia´s army has attempted for months to cross the river, which also cuts through Kupiansk, a city recaptured by Ukraine in its 2022 counteroffensive.

A local woman died on Sunday in the Ukraine-controlled part of Russia´s Kursk region after Russian strikes damaged a state boarding school where local people were sheltering, a Ukrainian official said.