MOSCOW/KYIV: Russia on Friday said its forces had captured three villages — Pishchane and Tykhe in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and Pryvillia in Dnipropetrovsk — marking a gradual but costly advance across eastern Ukraine. The areas were among those Kyiv had retaken during its 2022 counteroffensive.
Moscow’s defence ministry announced the gains amid fierce fighting over largely deserted settlements that have been reduced to rubble since the war began in February 2022. The push came just hours after Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump held a phone call and agreed to convene a new summit. Trump also met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday, part of renewed diplomatic efforts to end the prolonged conflict.
Ukraine had reclaimed much of the Kharkiv region, including Pishchane, during its rapid autumn 2022 advance — a turning point that forced Russia to launch its first military draft since World War II. But Russian troops are once again inching forward, seeking to encircle Kupiansk, a key logistical hub and one of Kyiv’s major victories from that campaign.
The protracted fighting has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced millions, leaving much of eastern Ukraine devastated.
Meanwhile, officials in the Russian-occupied Kherson region reported that Ukrainian shelling killed two adults and a 10-year-old child in a residential area. Ukrainian authorities said one person was killed and 14 injured by Russian shelling in Kherson areas still under Kyiv’s control.
Overnight, Russia launched a major drone offensive, deploying around 70 drones across Ukraine. Moscow claimed to have intercepted 61 Ukrainian drones, primarily over its western territories and occupied Crimea.
