Moscow claims the capture of a village near Kourakhové, in Donbass

Russia claimed Thursday the capture of a village near Kurakhové, in eastern Ukraine, one of the sectors of the front where its troops are advancing against a Ukrainian army that has been in retreat for several months. Russian forces “continued to advance deep into the enemy's defenses and liberated the settlement of Voznesenka”in the eastern region of Donetsk, the Russian Defense Ministry said in its daily report of the fighting.

Voznessenka is located less than 10 kilometers north of Kourakhové, a town 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 suburbs of this city, located near a reservoir.

The city of Pokrovsk under threat

Further north, the city of Pokrovsk, an important rail and road junction for Ukrainian troops, is also threatened with conquest by Russian forces. Still on the eastern front, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky assured Wednesday in his daily address that Moscow's army “tried to expand its offensive, especially in the Kupiansk area”40 km from the Russian border.

The city of Kupiansk, where more than 25,000 inhabitants lived before the conflict, was occupied by the Russian army between the end of February 2022 and the beginning of September of the same year, when the Ukrainian forces, thanks to a successful counterattack , had regained control of the area. The Ukrainian army said on Thursday that it had “stopped” the day before the Russian assault, indicating however that fighting was currently taking place “in the periphery” from Kupiansk, at this stage “fully under control” from Kyiv.