Russia claims the capture of two villages in the southeast of the country

This Wednesday, Russia claimed the capture of two villages near the industrial town of Kurakhové, in southeastern Ukraine, one of the sectors of the front where Russian troops are advancing against an exhausted Ukrainian army. .

According to the daily report from the Russian Defense Ministry, Moscow forces seized Antonivka and Maksimivka, two villages located south of Kurakhové, and north of Vougledar, a Ukrainian fortress that fell in early October.

Lithium deposit

Russian troops have been approaching for several weeks from the east and south of Kourakhové, a city which had around 18,000 inhabitants before the conflict, and which is notably home to a large deposit of lithium, a rare mineral, nearby. The Russian army is currently at the gates of the eastern suburbs of this city, located near a reservoir.

Further north, the city of Pokrovsk, an important logistical hub for Ukrainian troops, is also threatened with conquest.

The Russian army took some 500 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory in October, a record since the first weeks of the conflict in March 2022, according to an AFP analysis of data from the American Institute for the Study of War ( ISW).