Russian forces announced on Monday that they had seized two additional frontline villages in Ukraine, one in the northeast Kharkiv region and the other in the Donetsk People’s Republic.
These gains come after Kyiv had previously repelled Moscow’s troops in the same region earlier in the conflict. Over the past few months, Moscow has made significant progress on the front, leveraging its manpower and weapons superiority.
The Russian defence ministry reported that their army units had “liberated the village of Kotlyarivka in the Kharkiv region” and “the village of Soloviove in the Donetsk People’s Republic” in its daily briefing.
Kotlyarivka is situated approximately 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the besieged Ukrainian stronghold of Kupiansk, an area subjected to intense shelling amid speculation of a potential Russian offensive. Meanwhile, Soloviove is located on the eastern front, near the village of Ocheretyne, which Moscow claimed to have captured on Sunday.
Kyiv has faced challenges in maintaining control of the frontline due to severe ammunition shortages, largely attributed to delays in military supplies from its primary ally, Washington.
Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, stated last month that Kyiv had withdrawn from three villages in the eastern Donetsk region and was constructing a new line of fortifications amid concerns of further Russian advancements.
