Russia seizes another town in Donetsk as it advances into eastern Ukraine

September 14 () –

Russian authorities announced on Saturday that troops deployed in eastern Ukraine have taken control of another town in the Ukrainian province of Donetsk, one of the main hotbeds of the invasion unleashed more than two years ago.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has announced in a statement released via Telegram that the town of Zhelannoye Pervoye has been “liberated” thanks to “the decisive and active actions” of Russian forces following a series of clashes in the vicinity.

Several Russian army units have also “inflicted losses” on Ukrainian units near Verkhnyaia Pisarevka and Volchansk in Kharkiv province, where kyiv has suffered 110 casualties and the loss of two vehicles, the report said.

The Ministry of Defence also highlighted an improvement in the “tactical position” of the forces stationed in the province, as well as in Donetsk and Lugansk, while pointing out that Russian troops have managed to “repel” a counterattack by the Ukrainian Army.

Donetsk province, along with Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhia provinces, all partially occupied during the invasion – and Donetsk and Luhansk the centre of a conflict with the Ukrainian army since 2014 – were annexed by Russia in October 2022, a measure not recognised by the international community that followed Moscow’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014.