Russia Claims New Territorial Gains in Donetsk and Kharkiv Regions of East Ukraine

On Sunday, Russia announced that it had taken control of two additional villages in eastern Ukraine, one located in the Donetsk region and the other in Kharkiv.

Ukraine did not respond immediately to these assertions made by Russia.

For over a year, Moscow has been gradually advancing along the front lines, leveraging its numerical superiority against Ukrainian forces which are stretched thin.

The Russian statement noted the capture of the village of Piddubne in Donetsk and Sobolivka in Kharkiv.

Prior to the conflict, Piddubne had a population of around 500 and is situated approximately 7 kilometers (4 miles) from the Dnipropetrovsk region’s border.

Sobolivka is located roughly 3 kilometers (2 miles) west of Kupiansk, outside the areas that Russia claims to have secured, as indicated by battlefield maps from the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

In two distinct posts on Telegram, the Russian Defense Ministry proclaimed that its military units had “liberated” Poddubnoye and Sobolevka, referring to the villages by the Russian names.

The Russian military has increased its pace of advancement for the third month in a row as of June.

The territorial gains achieved during June represented the largest since November of the previous year, according to an analysis of ISW data by AFP.