MOSCOW: Russia on Saturday claimed the capture of another village in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region amid heavy fighting as Moscow’s forces advance towards the city of Pokrovsk.
The defence ministry said Russian troops “liberated” the village of Lozuvatske, about 24 kilometers (15 miles) east of Pokrovsk and near the Russian-occupied small town of Ocheretnye.
Ukraine has not confirmed the village changing hands.
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Kyiv’s defence ministry said early Saturday that Ukrainian forces had halted 37 Russian attacks in the Pokrovsk area.
The hardest fighting was near the village of Novooleksandrivka, it said. This village is around two kilometres from Lozuvatske and was claimed by Russia last month.
On Saturday, Russian aerial bombing of the Donetsk region hit the town of Myrnograd close to Pokrovsk and the town of Kurakhove further south.
At least five people were wounded including an 11-year-old child who was in the yard of a private house, regional prosecutors said.
The head of the Donetsk regional administration Vadym Filashkin posted images of the aftermath, including an apartment block with windows blown out and debris strewn on the street.
“Not a day passes without Russian shelling. Protect yourself – evacuate!” he appealed to residents.
In the northern Sumy region, a 14-year-old boy was killed and 12 wounded, six of them children, by Russia firing rocket launchers on the centre of the city of Glukhiv near the border with Russia, prosecutors said.
In the southern Kherson region, a 67-year-old man was seriously wounded by Russian shelling of the town of Bilozerka a few kilometres from the Dnipro river, the military administration said.
Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba visited China this week and said during talks that Kyiv was prepared to negotiate with Russia when it shows itself willing to hold talks “in good faith”.
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