The Russian Ministry of Defense has stated that the Russian military has captured two more Ukrainian settlements near the frontline in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. The ministry had previously reported capturing three settlements along the approximately 1,000-kilometer frontline yesterday. Although Ukraine has not yet officially confirmed that more settlements have fallen under Russian control, they have stated that they have liberated a settlement west of the Dnipropetrovsk region from Russian military control. Since the failed attempt to capture the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in February 2022, the Russian military has now focused on capturing the eastern Donbas region, which includes Donetsk and Luhansk.
As the United States has stepped up its efforts to bring an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, Ukraine launched powerful drone attacks on some Russian regions last night. Reports indicate that these attacks, targeting Russian nuclear and energy facilities, caused significant damage to the nuclear facility in Kursk. As a result, a transformer at the facility was damaged, reducing energy production capacity by 50%. Additionally, about 10 Ukrainian drones fell over the port of Ust-Luga in the northern Leningrad region of Russia, while a fire broke out in debris at a terminal operated by Novatek – a major oil export terminal and processing complex in the Baltic Sea – according to the region’s governor.
He stated that the fire at the facility has been extinguished and no one was injured in the incident. The Russian Defense Ministry said it had shot down a total of 95 Ukrainian drones used in attacks on 13 regions, including the Leningrad and Samara regions, as well as the Crimean Peninsula. Relevant authorities reported that flights at airports in these areas were suspended for several hours during the attacks.
