MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian forces have taken control of the settlement of Kruhliakivka, near the key town of Kupiansk in northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Wednesday.
Ukraine’s military made no acknowledgement of Kruhliakivka falling into Russian hands. But officials said fighting was heavy in the area and the city of Kupiansk had come under Russian shelling.
Ukraine’s General Staff listed Kruhliakivka as one of nine villages gripped by fighting, with 15 Russian attacks repelled and nine clashes still going on.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian intelligence reported that Russian forces had been pushed back from the village.
Prosecutors in Kharkiv region said Kupiansk had been subjected to shelling and then air attacks, injuring six people, including two police officers. One person died when Russian forces shelled the village of Kucherivka, a few km to the east.
Reuters could not independently verify battlefield reports from either side.
Kupiansk, a key rail junction and logistics centre, was over-run by Russian forces in the weeks after Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian forces recaptured the town in a lightning offensive through the northeast in September of that year.
Russian forces have again been advancing on Kupiansk as they make steady progress in their push westward through eastern Ukrainian sections of the 1,000-km front line.
A second key target in their advance has been Pokrovsk, another logistical hub further south in Donetsk region.
The Russian military on Tuesday said it had captured the town of Selydove, a stepping stone on its drive towards Pokrovsk. Ukrainian officials have yet to acknowledge the loss of the town.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Gleb Stolyarov; Editing by Andrew Osborn, Ron Popeski and David Gregorio)
