Russia claims five settlements in eastern, northeastern Ukraine

Russia's Defense Ministry announced the capture of five settlements in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, while Ukrainian authorities reported repelling assaults near the contested village of Shyikivka on the Lyman front.
Fresh territorial claims
Russia's Defense Ministry on Saturday claimed its forces had seized five additional settlements across eastern and northeastern Ukraine, expanding Moscow's territorial footprint as the war with Kyiv entered its 27th month. The announcement came as both sides intensified operations around strategic defensive hubs in the industrial Donetsk region.
The ministry said in a statement that troops captured Vasylivka — a village approximately 13 kilometers (8 miles) northwest of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region. Forces in the northeastern Kharkiv region also took control of Cherneshchyna, Druzheliubivka, Novyi Myr, and Shyikivka, the statement added.
Conflicting accounts
Earlier on Saturday, Ukraine's General Staff reported that its forces had repelled three Russian assaults near settlements on the Lyman front over the past 24 hours, including near Shyikivka. Ukrainian authorities have not responded to Moscow's latest claims, and independent verification of the battlefield situation remains difficult amid ongoing combat operations.
Dispute over Kostiantynivka
The claims follow Moscow's announcement on Friday that it had seized Kostiantynivka — a front-line industrial city in the Donetsk region. President Vladimir Putin described the capture as the "first, but very important, stage in the capture of the already important Sloviansk-Kramatorsk defensive hub of the Ukrainian Armed Forces," according to the Kremlin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected the Russian claims regarding Kostiantynivka, accusing Putin of choosing "to lie to the world" about the situation on the front line.
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