Russia says took two more east Ukrainian villages

MOSCOW: Russia on Friday said it captured two more east Ukrainian villages in the Donetsk region, edging closer to the central Dnipropetrovsk region.

Moscow has pressed a small but steady advance in eastern Ukraine since last summer, bringing home some successes, with morale in Russia now emboldened by US President Donald Trump opening talks with the Kremlin and criticising Ukraine.

The Russian defence ministry said it took the village of Nadezhdynka, some 10 kilometres (six miles) east of the regional border between the Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

It also claimed Novosilka, further south, another village close to the neighbouring region.

The Kremlin has set the goal of conquering the whole of the Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions that it claimed to have annexed without fully controlling.

It has not made any formal territorial claims over the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Moscow is trying to capture more land as it launches talks with the United States on how to end the conflict.

When the Kremlin launched its offensive in February 2022 it tried to take the capital Kyiv before being pushed back by Ukrainian forces.

It has since appeared to scale down its territorial aims, instructing troops to take the four regions in the south and east.