The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Monday that its forces had captured three more villages in eastern Ukraine - Nadiivka, Novosilka and Novoocheretovatoye (Nadeyevka, Novoselka and Novoocheretovatoye in Russian) in the Donetsk region, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
The world agency makes the reservation that this cannot be independently confirmed. Even after it began talks with the United States to end the war in Ukraine, Russia has continued its slow but steady territorial advance in the industrial Donetsk region, Reuters notes. Since 2014 Moscow-appointed authorities control part of it.
Russia declared in September 2022 that the Donetsk region, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, and three other Ukrainian regions were its territory, although it did not fully control them, Reuters notes. The decision prompted condemnation from most countries around the world and the United Nations, the agency recalls.