Russia says it has captured two villages in Ukraine, Ukraine reports heavy fighting
Ukrainian forces made no acknowledgement that the villages had changed hands, but reported heavy fighting.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in an assessment of the situation along the 1,000-km (620-mile) front line, said the logistics hub of Pokrovsk remained the focal point of battles.
He also said Ukrainian forces had recorded "successful actions" in Sumy region on Ukraine's northern border, where Russian forces have established a foothold in recent weeks.
Reuters could not independently confirm battlefield accounts from either side.
The front-line clashes were reported three days after the two sides held their third direct meeting in Turkey aimed at resolving the nearly 3-1/2-year-old war.
Both sides reported progress in swaps of prisoners or the remains of war dead, but no breakthroughs were announced in terms of a ceasefire or a meeting of the two countries' leaders.
Russia's military has been reporting nearly daily the capture of new villages in its slow advance westward.
The Russian Defence Ministry said its forces had taken control of Zelenyi Hai in Donetsk region and Maliivka, a village just inside Dnipropetrovsk region.
The ministry described Zelenyi Hai as "a major stronghold of Ukrainian formations in this section of the front (that) covered approaches to the administrative border of the Dnipropetrovsk region".
Dnipropetrovsk is not among the five regions that Moscow claims as its own -- Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and the Crimean peninsula, annexed in 2014.
Russia last month said its forces had crossed into Dnipropetrovsk region and now says it holds at least two villages. Ukraine's military has for weeks dismissed any notion that Russian troops hold territory in the region.
The Ukrainian military's General Staff, in a late evening report, mentioned Zelenyi Hai as one of several frontline areas that had come under Russian attack 11 times over the past 24 hours. It said Maliivka was one of several villages where 10 Russian attacks had been halted.
Zelenskiy, in his nightly video address, said Ukraine's top commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, had identified Pokrovsk as an area
requiring "special attention" under constant attack.
A military spokesperson, Viktor Trehubov, told national television that Russian forces were attacking Pokrovsk in "a small torrent...that simply does not stop".
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
33 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Britain ‘ready to fight' over Taiwan
Britain is ready to fight in the Pacific if conflict breaks out over Taiwan, the Defence Secretary has said. John Healey was speaking on board the HMS Prince of Wales with Richard Marles, Australia's deputy prime minister, as the ship docked in Darwin to join war games with allies, including the US. Asked by the Telegraph about what the UK is doing to help countries like Taiwan to prepare for potential escalation from China, Mr Healey said: 'If we have to fight, as we have done in the past, Australia and the UK are nations that will fight together. We exercise together and by exercising together and being more ready to fight, we deter better together.' His comments are among the most robust from a British official on the subject of possible engagement in a future war in the region. Mr Healey, however, said he was speaking in 'general terms', and said the UK would prefer to see any disputes in the Indo-Pacific resolved 'peacefully' and 'diplomatically'. He added: 'We secure peace through strength, and our strength comes from our allies.' Xi Jinping, the president of China, has not ruled out the use of force in the 'reunification of the motherland'. Beijing maintains sovereignty over Taiwan, which the government in Taipei firmly rejects. Experts have cautioned that an invasion of Taiwan could result in a conflict that would involve countries across the globe. Mr Healey acknowledged that 'threats' are increasing in the Indo-Pacific region, where China's military has seized contested reefs and is accused of intimidating its neighbours. The HMS Prince of Wales carrier group has sailed with advanced F-35 fighter jets from Singapore to northern Australia for the first time since 1997, and will continue towards Japan, where it is likely to sail close to Taiwan. The British Government has previously refrained from commenting on whether it would intervene if a conflict were to break out. The Royal Navy has two permanent patrol vessels in the region. Most countries follow the United States in its position of 'strategic ambiguity' where it generally refrains from commenting on whether or not it would come to Taiwan's defence in the event of a war. Joe Biden, the former US president, had broken this rule of thumb on several occasions and had said that the US would support the island in pushing back against China. Donald Trump, the current president, has refrained from taking the same outspoken approach, but officials in the Pentagon are preparing for conflict. The current US government has also said that it will be reviewing its part in the AUKUS agreement, a trilateral security agreement between the US, Australia and the UK, as part of the Trump administration's 'America first' strategy. Regarding Taiwan, Australia has also taken a more cautious approach. Anthony Albanese, the country's prime minister, last week refused to comment on whether the country would join with the US and other allies in fighting back against China if a conflict broke out. As part of its National Security Strategy published earlier this year, the UK Government recognised that 'there is a particular risk of escalation around Taiwan'. Gavin Williamson, who served as the UK's defence secretary from 2017 to 2019, said that the UK is probably speaking more candidly as the increasing threat in the Indo-Pacific becomes clearer. 'I think there's a realisation that by being completely silent it doesn't make it more or less likely. Deterrence is about setting out the consequences that will come about as a result of other people's dangerous or malign actions,' Sir Gavin told The Telegraph. 'It's really important that people like the UK Defence Secretary is being clear about the consequences of actions.' The decision to deploy the HMS Prince of Wales, which is the UK's largest strike carrier group, on a nine-month deployment through the Pacific is indicative of the UK's awareness of this rising threat level. The ship's deployment to Darwin, a city in northern Australia, is also telling of the close ties between London and Canberra, which would be key to any potential future conflict in the Indo-Pacific. Mr Healey noted 'as threats are increasing, the partnerships like the UK and Australia matter more than ever'. This is the first time in nearly 30 years that a British carrier strike group has docked in Australia and the first time that a non-US carrier has participated in Australia's annual military drills known as Talisman Sabre, which were the largest ever this year. The two countries also signed the Geelong Treaty this weekend, a new 50-year agreement cementing their part in the AUKUS pact and committing to build a new class of nuclear-powered submarines. The arrival of the HMS Prince of Wales to Darwin is also part of the UK's effort to assert the right to freedom of navigation through the Taiwan Strait – the narrow body of water separating China from Taiwan. David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary who was also on board the HMS Prince of Wales earlier in the day, has previously said that the UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait. 'We have a direct interest in the international rules, the freedom of the seas, the freedom of navigation and the stability and security in the Indo-Pacific,' said Mr Healey. Last month, the HMS Spey, a Royal Navy patrol ship, transited the Taiwan Strait, drawing praise from Taiwan and strong criticism from China. The UK does not comment on its ships' future movements, but many suspect the HMS Prince of Wales will transit through the contested Strait as it sails to its next destinations in South Korea and Japan. However, while the UK may be increasing its attention towards the Indo-Pacific, this will not involve greater engagement with Taiwan. When asked whether the UK may engage more formally with Taiwan, Mr Healey said that 'there's no change in the UK's approach to Taiwan'. Sir Gavin, who also faced the question of engagement with Taiwan while he was in office, said that the UK is only likely to shift its approach 'if China becomes ever more and more aggressive'. Conflict over Taiwan would probably have massive global implications as the country produces much of the world's most advanced computer chips.
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Russia scales down celebrations honoring its navy as Ukraine launches more drone attacks
Russia on Sunday scaled down the festivities honoring its navy citing security concerns as continuing Ukrainian drone attacks posed a challenge to the Kremlin. Russian authorities canceled the parades of warships in St. Petersburg, in the Kaliningrad region on the Baltic and in the far-eastern port of Vladivostok that are usually held to mark the annual Navy Day celebrations. Asked about the reason for the cancellation of the parade in St. Petersburg even as President Vladimir Putin arrived in his home city to visit the navy headquarters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that "it's linked to the overall situation, security reasons, which are above all else.' The Russian Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 99 Ukrainian drones over several regions overnight. Later in the day, officials reported more drones shot down near St. Petersburg. A woman was injured by drone fragments in the Lomonosov region, according to the local authorities. St. Petersburg's Pulkovo airport suspended dozens of flights early Sunday because of the drone threat. On a trip to St. Petersburg, Putin visited the historic Admiralty building to receive reports on four-day naval maneuvers that wrapped up Sunday. The July Storm exercise involved 150 warships from the Baltics to the Pacific. Putin vowed to build more warships and intensify the navy's training, adding that 'the navy's strike power and combat capability will rise to a qualitatively new level.' Reducing the scale of the Navy Day celebrations reflects Moscow's worries about Ukraine 's sweeping drone attacks across the country. In a series of strikes earlier in the war now in its fourth year, Ukraine sank several Russian warships in the Blacks Sea, crippling Moscow's naval capability and forcing it to redeploy its fleet from Russia-occupied Crimea to Novorossiysk. And in an audacious June 1 attack codenamed 'Spiderweb,' Ukraine used drones to hit several Russian airbases hosting long-range bombers across Russia, from the Arctic Kola Peninsula to Siberia. The drones were launched from trucks covertly placed near the bases, taking the Russian military by surprise in a humiliating blow to the Kremlin. The raid destroyed or damaged many of the bombers that had been used by Moscow to launch aerial attacks on Ukraine, providing a major morale boost for Kyiv at a time when Kyiv's undermanned and under-gunned forces are facing Russian attacks along the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line. Russia continued to batter Ukraine with drone and missile strikes Sunday. In Sumy in Ukraine's northeast, a drone attack damaged civil infrastructure objects, an administrative building and non-residential premises, leaving three people wounded. Elsewhere in the region, two men died after being blown up by a landmine and another woman was injured from a drone attack on another community in the region, the regional military administration said. ___
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
World Food Programme hopes for surge in food aid to Gaza
July 27 (Reuters) - The World Food Programme hopes that an Israeli humanitarian pause in designated areas of the Gaza Strip will allow for a surge in urgently needed food aid to the region, it said on Sunday. The United Nations agency has enough food in or on its way to the region to feed the entire Gaza population of 2.1 million for almost three months, it said in a post on X.
