Russia says it advances in Ukraine, has struck energy and military industry

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MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia said on Wednesday that its forces had advanced in eastern Ukraine, taking villages in two regions, and that it had struck Ukraine’s energy and military infrastructure in response to attacks on Russian refineries.

Russian missiles and drones struck nearly a dozen Ukrainian critical infrastructure facilities in a major airstrike early on Wednesday, causing serious damage at three Soviet-era thermal power plants, Kyiv officials said.

Russia used high-precision long-range naval and air-based weapons, hypersonic Kinzhal missile systems and drones to strike energy facilities and the military-industrial complex, Russia’s defence ministry said.

“As a result of the strike, Ukraine’s capabilities for the output of military products, as well as the transfer of Western weapons and military equipment to the line of contact, have been significantly reduced,” the ministry said.

It said the strike was in response to the “attempts of the Kyiv regime to damage Russian energy facilities”.

Along the 1,000 km (600 mile) front, Russian forces advanced in several places, the defence ministry said.

They took control of the village of Kyslivka in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and the village of Novokalynove in the Donetsk region, the ministry said. Reuters could not independently verify those advances.

It also said that it had struck Ukrainian ammunition depots and drone workshops.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge)