Moscow said Thursday that it had captured another village in east Ukraine, around 10 kilometers from the city of Avdiivka, which fell to Russian forces last month.
It was the second village west of Avdiivka that Moscow claimed to have seized this week, with Russia seeing some recent successes on the battlefield as Kyiv faces an ammunition shortage.
“The Russian armed forces liberated the village of Tonenke,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said in its daily briefing.
Moscow seized Avdiivka last month after one of the bloodiest battles in the two-year conflict, which the Kremlin touted as a turning point.
The claim came as Russia launched a large-scale missile attack on Kyiv early Thursday, with Ukraine saying Russian forces had launched more than 30 missiles at its capital.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had used “high-precision weapons” including hypersonic Kinzhal missiles on the “command centers” of Ukraine’s armed forces.
The attack came after President Vladimir Putin vowed that Moscow would respond to an escalation in Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s border regions.
The Defense Ministry said Russian units “continue to carry out measures to prevent the penetration of sabotage and reconnaissance groups” into the border region of Belgorod.
Russia’s border regions have been hit by increased Ukrainian shelling in recent days, as well as incursions by anti-Kremlin militias fighting on Kyiv’s side.