Muhamad Yehia
Moscow claims to have seized the eastern Ukrainian village of Novovasylivka as it appears to be slowly closing in on the key logistic city of Prokrovsk.
Russia on Friday claimed it had captured another village in its relentless offensive in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region and as it closes in on the critical Ukrainian logistics hub of Pokrovsk.
The Russian claim that its forces took Novovasylivka could not be independently confirmed, and Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment.
However, battlefield maps published early on Friday by the Ukrainian General Staff suggested the village was at least partly under Russian control. A comparison with other maps of the area by The Associated Press indicated Novovasylivka is largely under Russian control.
Russian forces have been trying for months to capture the key Donetsk strongholds of Pokrovsk and nearby Chasiv Yar, fighting their way across farm fields and woodland and engulfing small rural settlements.
The fall of Pokrovsk and Chasiv Yar could enable the Russian army to complete its hold on Donetsk and even set the stage for it to continue on into the neighbouring Dnipro region.
The recent Russian push in the area has coincided with U.S. President Donald Trump taking office and repeating his pledge to end the war soon. That has prompted both Moscow and Kyiv to pursue battlefield gains that might give them an edge at the bargaining table.
The village of Novovasylivka is located around 11 kilometres southwest of Pokrovsk and Ukrainian officials have said Russia is attempting a pincer movement to surround it.
Pokrovsk is a key road and rail junction, furnishing supplies to a broad span of the front line. Chasiv Yar is a strategic hilltop.
Ukraine’s General Staff said on Friday that Ukrainian troops had repelled 71 attacks by the Russian army toward Pokrovsk over the previous 24 hours, meaning that almost half of Russia’s attacks along the entire 1,000-kilometre front line occurred around Pokrovsk.
Russian launches over 100 drone strikes across Ukraine
According to Ukraine’s General Staff, Russian forces launched 102 drones against Ukraine on Thursday night. Of these, 59 were intercepted, while 37 were “lost in transit without causing damage,” it reported.
Nearly 20 homes in the town of Starokostiantynivka in Khmelnytskyi region were damaged in a drone attack.
And residents of Biletske in Donetsk region discovered the aftermath of a guided aerial bomb dropped on the town on Thursday which injured two women, and caused significant damage to buildings including a school.
In the city of Sumy, a drone attack killed 11 people. Fourteen residents also sustained injuries, including an eight-year-old girl.
Ukraine launches drone strikes on seven Russian regions
Ukraine also carried out drone strikes on several Russian regions overnight on Friday, targeting key infrastructure. Among the sites hit was a Lukoil oil refinery in the Volgograd region.
Local residents reported multiple explosions and a fire at the refinery.
“A fire broke out on the refinery’s premises due to falling drone debris but was swiftly extinguished,” said the regional governor, Andrei Bocharov. He added that one plant employee was take to hospital with injuries.
Ukraine’s General Staff confirmed the attack.
Alongside the Volgograd region, Ukrainian drones also struck six other Russian regions overnight in Rostov, Kursk, Belgorod, Voronezh, and Yaroslavl regions.
Russia’s Defence Ministry meanwhile claimed that its air defences shot down 49 Ukrainian drones.