Russia claims capture of two villages in Ukraine

Russia claimed Monday the capture of two villages in eastern Ukraine, where it continues its slow push, but is itself affected by power cuts in border areas after Ukrainian bombings.

The Russian forces, who are taking advantage of the Ukrainian army’s difficulties in replenishing its ranks and obtaining more arms and ammunition from the West, have been nibbling away for months. Since Saturday, they have claimed the conquest of five villages in several sectors of the front.

According to the daily report of the Ministry of Defense on Monday, Russian forces seized the village of Novopokrovské in the Donetsk region (east) and that of Stepova Novoselivka in the Kharkiv region (northeast).

The first is located near the Ocheretyne salient, where Russian troops have made rapid gains in recent weeks, and the second in the direction of Kupiansk, one of the objectives of the Russian offensive in the northeast.

On Saturday and Sunday, the Russian army had already claimed the capture of three other villages, including that of Shumy, near the mining town of Toretsk, another current axis of attack of the Russian forces in the east.

The Ukrainian authorities announced in this context on Monday that they had evacuated more than 700 residents of Toretsk, but nearly 5,000 people remain in the city and “many of them are trying to evacuate,” the Ukrainian authorities said on Telegram. National Police.

Toretsk residents interviewed by AFP last week reported dozens of daily Russian bombings on the city, which until recently had been relatively unaffected by hostilities. The city represents a major barrier to access to Kramatorsk, the Kremlin’s ultimate objective in Donbass.

According to the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office, two elderly women were killed and eight other people were injured in a Russian shelling on the city of Ukrainsk in the Donetsk region, which damaged an administrative building and houses.

On the Russian side, Ukrainian drone strikes caused power and running water cuts for several hours on Monday in the border region of Belgorod, and could cause others, according to local authorities.

“In Belgorod since this morning there have been restrictions on energy supplies. Some parts of the city are experiencing interruptions in water supply,” Mayor Valentin Demidov said on Telegram.

Authorities in the neighboring Russian regions of Kursk and Voronezh said power outages were also possible after the strikes.

The Russian Ministry of Energy announced that it was carrying out repairs in Chebekino, a border town regularly targeted, and specified that 240,000 people were affected by the power cuts.

A four-year-old girl was killed and seven people injured in these multiple Ukrainian drone attacks which hit electrical installations and homes, said the governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov.

He also reported that a civilian was killed by a shell falling on a farm in the village of Novaya Tavoljanka.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported shooting down 36 Ukrainian drones overnight. Three more were destroyed in the afternoon over the Belgorod region.

Russia, for its part, has intensified its attacks on Ukrainian power plants for several months, causing power outages across the country. According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine lost half of its energy capacities because of these strikes.

Ukraine has been on the defensive on the front since the failure of its major counteroffensive last summer and the fall of the Avdiivka fortress in February. It has called on the West to urgently provide it with new anti-aircraft systems to defend against Russian strikes.

In late June, Mr Zelensky said he was working on a new plan to end the conflict, with the aim of having it “supported by the majority” of the international community.

His counterpart Vladimir Putin has put forward his own solution: that Ukraine cede five regions partially occupied by Moscow and renounce joining NATO. De facto a demand for capitulation, rejected in kyiv as well as by the West.