Russia's Defense Ministry said Russian forces had taken control of the village of Shevchenko, near the Pokrovsk logistics center, a key Russian target in the offensive in Ukraine's Donetsk region, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
The Ukrainian military did not mention the village in its combat report, but said Russia had launched more than 50 attacks on its forces' positions near Pokrovsk in the past 24 hours.
A Russian military report said that "decisive actions by Russian forces" had resulted in the capture of Shevchenko, which is located about 3 km west of Pokrovsk. The report also said Russian forces had begun carrying out airstrikes, drones and missiles on Ukrainian military airfields and energy infrastructure serving the Ukrainian army. No further details were given about the attacks.
The Ukrainian military's general staff said they had repelled 46 of 56 Russian attacks around a dozen towns in the Pokrovsk region. Ten clashes were still ongoing.
The governor of the Ukrainian-held part of Donetsk Oblast, Vadim Filashkin, said one resident had been killed
and four others wounded when a village north of Pokrovsk came under Russian shelling.
At the same time, the Russian news agency RIA aired what it said was the first report by one of its correspondents from Kurakhovo, another logistics hub south of Pokrovsk. The Russian military announced the capture of Kurakhovo earlier this week. Ukraine has not acknowledged the loss of the city, but the popular Ukrainian blog "Deep State" claims that the city is in Russian hands.
South Korean intelligence confirmed that Ukraine has captured two North Korean servicemen who are now being interrogated, Agence France-Presse reported, quoted by BTA. They were captured in Russia's Kursk region.
Yesterday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that his country's army had captured two North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region, adding that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) was talking to them, the agencies reported.
The Ukrainian leader specified that the two captives were wounded and taken to Kiev. He published photos of them, in which the soldiers lie on hospital beds in a room with bars on the windows. Both are bandaged - one around the jaw, the other around the hands and wrists.
The SBU reported that the captives do not speak Ukrainian, English or Russian, so communication with them is taking place through a Korean translator, Ukrinform reported. After their capture, it was found that one of the foreigners was carrying a fake Russian military ID card, issued in the name of a person living in the Russian republic of Tuva. The other had no documents at all.