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Analyst and journalist Mentor Kikia spoke this evening abo...

Russia takes control of two villages in key areas in eastern Ukraine

2024-12-07 10:30:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Russia announced on Friday that its forces had taken control of a village near the strategic city of Pokrovsk and another near the industrial city of Kurakhevo, gaining ground in two key frontline areas in eastern Ukraine.

For months, Moscow has been advancing in eastern Ukraine, taking advantage of Ukrainian soldiers with fewer weapons at their disposal.

Russian army units "liberated the settlements" of Sukhi Yalyt and Pustynkas in the eastern Donetsk region, the Russian Defense Ministry said at its daily press conference.

The Sukhi Yalyt area is about 13 kilometers southwest of Kurakhova, a strategic industrial town on the banks of a reservoir that Moscow is trying to take control of.

Pustynka lies south of the city of Pokrovsk, a logistics hub at the intersection of road and rail routes used to supply Ukrainian troops on the front line.

The nearly three-year conflict has escalated sharply in recent months, after Kiev deployed long-range missiles supplied by the United States and Britain for strikes on Russian soil and Moscow hit Ukraine with an experimental hypersonic missile in retaliation.

Ukraine has been trying to achieve as secure a position as possible before the return to the White House in January of the President-elect of the United States, Donald Trump.

Republican Trump has promised to quickly end the conflict upon coming to power, raising concerns in Kiev that Ukraine will be forced to make massive territorial concessions to Moscow.

Meanwhile, on Friday, Ukrainian drones struck the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky, killing three people and seriously injuring three others, the region's Moscow-appointed governor announced.

Footage released by Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-appointed governor of southern Ukraine's Kherson region, showed what appeared to be bodies lying on a street and outside a building, covered in blankets.

Kiev did not comment, but Ukraine denies carrying out attacks on civilian targets in regions controlled by Russia.

Oleshky had a population of about 20,000 before Moscow launched its full-scale attack on Ukraine in February 2022.

The city lies in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine, along the eastern bank of the Russian-controlled Dnipro River.

The river, de facto , is like a front line between the forces of Moscow and Kiev, while both sides regularly accuse each other of artillery and drone strikes./ DW