Moscow forces seize Ukraine village

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia said Sunday its armed forces had seized the village of Ocheretyne in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the latest in a string of small territorial gains for Moscow.

After capturing the nearby industrial hub of Avdiivka in February, Russia has pressed its manpower and weapons advantage on the battlefield, advancing several kilometers deeper into Ukraine in places.

The defense ministry said Russian troops had “completely liberated the village of Ocheretyne in the Donetsk People’s Republic.”

Ocheretyne is around 15 kilometers northwest of Avdiivka.

Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said last week that Kyiv had pulled back from three villages in the eastern Donetsk region and was building a new line of fortifications.

Kyiv has struggled amid delays to vital Western weapons supplies in recent months and hopes the arrival of United States arms will help it stabilize the front lines.

Meanwhile, a Russian rocket strike in the same region killed two people and a drone attack on the northeastern city of Kharkiv injured at least six, officials said Sunday.

The overnight attacks came as Orthodox Christians in Ukraine and Russia celebrated Easter.

“In Pokrovsk, rocket attacks killed two people and damaged a house,” Vadim Filashkin, Ukraine’s governor of the eastern Donetsk region, said in a post on Telegram.

Pokrovsk is around 60 kilometers northwest of Donetsk city, the Russian-held capital of the region which Moscow claims to have annexed.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired 24 Iranian-style “Shahed” drones at its territory overnight, 23 of which were shot down.

“A house and outbuildings were burned down as a result of ‘Shahed’ attacks. Six people were injured, among them a girl born in 2015,” said Kharkiv Governor Oleg Synegubov on Telegram.