Postwoman Ganna Fesenko (R), 39, speaks to a local woman as they walk on a street in the village of Novoselydivka, Donetsk region on June 14, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. - As morning breaks, Ganna Fesenko dons her flak jacket and clambers into an armoured van -- business as usual for the postwoman setting off on her rounds in war-torn eastern Ukraine. Fesenko works for Ukraine's postal service and admits that even after working in precarious frontline town and villages for more than two years, she still gets scared. (Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP)
Russia said Monday it had captured two more east Ukrainian villages, as Moscow’s forces have continued to put pressure on the struggling Ukrainian army in several directions for weeks.
The gains came after Russia claimed two other villages over the weekend.
Following the weekend’s advances, Russia’s defence ministry said it took the village of Novopokrovske in the eastern Donetsk region and the village of Stepova Novoselivka in the north-east Kharkiv region.
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Novopokrovske lies north of a village that Moscow took on Sunday, in an area of the front where Moscow has been steadily pushing westwards since it took the industrial hub of Avdiivka in February.
Moscow has announced the capture of a fresh village in Ukraine’s east almost every week this summer.
Stepova Novoselivka lies south-east of the city of Kupyansk, where Russia has also been on the advance for months.
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Russian forces took Kupyansk at the start of their 2022 offensive but Ukrainian forces retook the city several months later.
In May, Russia launched a renewed local offensive in the Kharkiv region.
© Agence France-Presse
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