KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces have overrun two front-line villages in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, a Ukrainian army sergeant said Monday, after relentless assaults that are part of a Kremlin summer push to overwhelm battlefield defenses there.
Separately, attacks in Russia’s Kursk region by the Security Service of Ukraine, also known as the SBU, struck a number of substations causing power outages, according to a statement from the General Staff of Ukraine. The claim of responsibility came after Russia said it thwarted a nighttime Ukrainian drone attack.
“They pressed nonstop” to capture Vovche and Prohres, the chief sergeant of Ukraine’s 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade, Oleh Chaus, told Radio Svaboda. “They sent in a large number of troops, which had not previously been used.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed in recent days that it had taken control of the villages, but the Ukrainian General Staff made no official comment.
The villages lie about 20 miles northwest of Avdiivka, a Donetsk city that the Russian army seized in February after a long battle. That victory was the Kremlin’s last major triumph in the war that is now in its third year.
Russia’s onslaught, fueled by its heavy advantage in soldiers and weaponry, has repeatedly forced the Ukrainians to pull back from defensive positions to avoid being captured or killed.
Oleksandr Shyrshyn, the 47th brigade’s deputy battalion commander, confirmed to local media that the villages had been taken. He blamed poor training of troops, low abilities of officers, motivation and inadequate weapons for the setbacks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy late Sunday described the situation in the Donetsk region as “extremely challenging.”
Russia’s strategy of attritional warfare, with powerful glide bombs smashing Ukrainian defenses before infantry move in, has brought incremental gains for the Kremlin as it seeks another big breakthrough.
Ukraine is significantly outgunned by Russia’s bigger army on the roughly 600-mile front line.
Russian troops are also intensifying their weekslong drive to breach Ukrainian defenses around Pokrovsk, a town of around 60,000 people before the war, the Ukrainian General Staff said Monday.
Russia launched 52 attacks there over the previous 24 hours — almost twice the daily number in recent weeks, it said.
