(Moscow) 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.
Posted at 8:03 a.m.
Updated at 9:41 a.m.
Russian forces, which are taking advantage of the Ukrainian army’s difficulties in replenishing its ranks and obtaining more weapons and ammunition from the West, have been gaining ground for months. Since Saturday, they have claimed five villages in several sectors of the front.
According to the daily report of the Ministry of Defense on Monday, Russian forces captured the village of Novopokrovské in the Donetsk region and that of Stepova Novoselivka in the Kharkiv region.
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.
240,000 people without power
Toretsk residents interviewed last week by AFP reported dozens of daily Russian bombings on the city, which until recently was relatively spared from hostilities. The city represents an important barrier for 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 water cuts for several hours in the border region of Belgorod on Monday, and could lead to more, 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.
Peace plans
The Russian Defense Ministry reported shooting down 36 Ukrainian drones overnight. Three other devices were destroyed in the afternoon over the Belgorod region.
Russia, for its part, has intensified its attacks on Ukrainian power plants in recent months, causing power outages across the country. According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine has lost half of its energy capacity because of these strikes.
Ukraine has been on the defensive on the front since the failure of its major counter-offensive last summer and the fall of the Avdiivka fortress in February. She called on the West to urgently provide new anti-aircraft systems to defend against Russian strikes.
At the end of June, Mr. Zelensky assured that he was working on a new plan to end the conflict, with the aim of it being “supported by the majority” of the international community.
His counterpart Vladimir Putin put forward his own solution: that Ukraine cede five regions partially occupied by Moscow and renounce joining NATO. De facto a request for capitulation, rejected in Kyiv as among the West.
