Russia captures two more villages in east Ukraine

Russian forces have overrun two front-line villages, a Ukrainian army sergeant said Monday, after relentless assaults that are part of a Kremlin summer push to overwhelm battlefield defenses in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.

"They pressed non-stop" to capture the villages of Vovche and Prohres, the chief sergeant of Ukraine's 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade told Radio Svaboda. "They sent in a large number of troops, which had not previously been used." His name was not given for security reasons.

The two villages lie about 30 kilometers (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 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.

Ukraine's General Staff has not commented on the status of either village.

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 a big breakthrough that has eluded it since capturing Avdiivka in February.

Ukraine is significantly outgunned by Russia's bigger army on the roughly 1,000-kilometer (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.

Meanwhile, Russian air defenses thwarted a nighttime barrage of 39 Ukrainian drones over five of the country's regions, Russian authorities said Monday.

Russia's Defense Ministry said the drones were "intercepted and destroyed" in regions bordering Ukraine as well as in the Leningrad region roughly 700 kilometers (430 miles) north of the Ukrainian border. A power plant, a bridge and a power line were damaged by drone debris, it said.

Ukraine has employed high technology in its campaign of increasingly ambitious drone strikes deep inside Russia that target critical infrastructure in an attempt to make the war more costly for Moscow and hinder its war machine.