(Moscow) The Russian army claimed Saturday the capture of a new village in eastern Ukraine, located near the town of Otcheretyne where it has made rapid progress in recent weeks.
“Units of the central troop group liberated the village of Arkhangelské […] as a result of successful combat operations,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in its daily report.
Russia has been gaining ground in eastern Ukraine for months after regaining the initiative with the failure of the Ukrainian counter-offensive last summer and the capture of the fortress town of Avdiivka in February.
Moscow’s forces took Ocheretyne in early May and made rapid gains in this sector of the front, while elsewhere they struggled to break through the Ukrainian defenses.
The Ukrainian General Staff, for its part, indicated on Saturday that Russian forces are “particularly active” near the town of Pokrovsk, with six exchanges of fire underway near the villages of Kalynové, Yasnobrodivka and Sokil, south of the village of Pokrovsk. ‘Arhangelské claimed by Russia.
According to Ukrainian police, three civilians were killed and two injured in the past 24 hours during Russian attacks in the eastern region of Donetsk, where most of the fighting is concentrated.
The Russian army also launched an offensive in the Kharkiv region, in the North-East, on May 10, seizing several localities and pushing Ukraine to send valuable reinforcements there. Kyiv, however, claimed on Friday that Moscow’s troops had “got bogged down” in this sector and that their progress had been “stopped”.
Kharkiv region governor Oleg Synegubov said on Saturday that Russian forces hit the Kupiansk-Vuzlovy railway junction with a hovering bomb, injuring at least five people.
Ukrainian troops are facing a shortage of soldiers and ammunition, due to insufficient mobilization efforts and delays in the delivery of Western aid.