Ukraine did not immediately comment on Russia’s claims. Moscow has been grinding forward on the front line for over a year, pressing its advantage against overstretched and outmanned Ukrainian troops. On Sunday, Russia said it had captured the village of Piddubne in Donetsk and Sobolivka in Kharkiv.
Piddubne was home to around 500 people before the conflict and lies just seven kilometres (four miles) from the border of Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region. The Sobolivka village lies some three kilometres (two miles) west of the town of Kupiansk, outside of areas Russia claims it is holding, according to battlefield maps by the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
In two separate Telegram posts, the Russian defence ministry said its army units had “liberated” the settlements of Poddubnoye and Sobolevka, using Russian spellings for the localities. The Russian military accelerated its advances for a third consecutive month in June. Its territorial gains for that month were the biggest since November last year, according to an AFP analysis of ISW data.
Platform with AFP
