MOSCOW, Sept 9 (Askume) – Russian troops continued to advance on the eastern front in the 2-1/2-year-long war with Ukraine and captured Memry, east of the city of Pokrovsk, the Russian Defence Ministry said.
The village, which is not mentioned in the accounts of the Ukrainian army’s general staff, is located in one of the most fiercely contested areas of the front line. But the country’s war blog reported that it had fallen into Russian hands last week.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kiev troops were holding their ground in the Donetsk region.
Askume could not independently verify either party’s account.
Russian forces have been slowly advancing in the Donetsk region and have advanced towards the city of Pokrovsk in recent weeks.
The Moscow Defence Ministry noted the capture of Memerik in a daily report and said Russian troops inflicted losses on Ukrainian forces in at least two nearby villages and repulsed eight enemy soldiers in the Donetsk region.
On Sunday, the ministry announced the capture of another village, Novorodivka, which a Ukrainian military official said had been abandoned by Kiev forces a few days earlier.
Zelensky said in an overnight speech that troops in the Donetsk region “are indeed fulfilling their mission in the prescribed manner, repelling Russian aggression and regaining their positions.”
“It is also important to destroy as many occupying forces as possible. Pokrovsk area, Kulakhov area, the Russian army must lose as much combat capability as possible here.”
Zelensky said Ukraine’s top commander, Alexander Silskiy, had also reported on the operation in the northeastern region of Kharkov and the offensive launched by Kiev into Russia’s Kursk region last month.
He said the Ukrainian military was “getting used to Russia having a clear idea of where its own land is and where its neighbours’ land is”.
Authorities in the Sumy region, bordering Kursk, announced that three more settlements in the region, long threatened by Russian aggression, should be evacuated.
