MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian forces have captured two more settlements in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday, the latest in a series of gains it has announced in its steady westward advance.
The ministry's statement said Russian forces now control Petropavlevka, a village located between the cities of Pokrovsk and Korakhovye, focal points of fighting in recent months in the region.
It also noted the capture of Vremivka, one of a group of small towns located south of the Donetsk region.
The ministry also said that Russian forces bombed Ukrainian military facilities with high-precision weapons in response to a Ukrainian attack on the Belgorod region of southern Russia with US-made ATACMS missiles.
Reuters was unable to independently verify field reports from either side of the 34-month-old conflict.
Ukrainian military statements did not indicate a change in control of either village, but indicated heavy fighting near the main city of Pokrovsk.
Ukraine's popular deep state blog, which documents changes in positions adopted by both sides using open source material, has placed both Petropavlivka and Vremivka in Russian hands.
The spokesman for the Eastern Forces Group of the Ukrainian army denied for the second day any idea of Russian forces entering Pokrovsk.
Viktor Trekhupov told national television: “There were no developments in Pokrovsk, things are stable.” “The enemy is not there.”
The city is a transport hub and the site of Ukraine's only coke pit, where work was suspended this week.
After the Russian army failed to advance on the capital, Kiev, in the weeks following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, it has since focused its efforts on controlling all of Donbass – made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
It now controls about 20% of Ukraine's territory.
In a late-night report, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Army said that Russian forces trying to break through Ukrainian defenses launched 84 attacks in the Pokrovsk sector. There are still fourteen battles taking place in the region.
The report listed a series of villages in the Strip that it said had been subjected to a Russian attack, including three that the Russian army said it took control of last week and another that Russia said it took control of last month.
