Russia Claims Capture of Three Settlements in Eastern Ukraine

The Russian army announced on Wednesday that it had captured three villages in eastern Ukraine, asserting fresh territorial gains despite ongoing US-led peace efforts and a wave of diplomatic activity aimed at ending the conflict.

According to Russia’s defence ministry on Telegram, its troops had “continued to advance deep into the enemy defences” in the Donetsk region, seizing the villages of Sukhetske and Pankivka.

• These villages are situated near a section of the front where Russian forces breached Ukrainian defences last week, between the logistics hub of Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka.

In the neighbouring Dnipropetrovsk region, the Russian army claimed the capture of Novogeorgiivka, a village previously spared from fighting until Russian troops entered the region in July.

These advances occur amid intensified diplomatic efforts by the United States and European leaders to negotiate a peace agreement to end the offensive, now entering its fourth year.

US President Donald Trump stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and accept some Western security guarantees for Kyiv.

However, European capitals have received these assurances cautiously, and according to sources familiar with a Monday call between Trump and Putin, the Russian leader suggested holding the summit in Moscow, a proposal rejected by Zelensky.