Russia says its forces take control of three more villages in eastern Ukraine

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MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Russian Defence Ministry said on Friday that its forces had taken control of three more villages in eastern Ukraine, one in the Dnipropetrovsk region and two in the northeastern Kharkiv region, closer to the Russian border.

The Ukrainian military noted fighting around at least two of the settlements, but made no acknowledgement that any of them had changed hands.

Reuters could not independently confirm battlefield accounts from either side.

According to the Russian ministry, Moscow’s troops took control of Pryvillia in the Dnipropetrovsk region, where Moscow’s forces have established a foothold in recent weeks.

Also captured were the villages of Pishchane, near the virtually destroyed town of Kupiansk that Russia sees as a target in its drive westward, and Tykhe, just inside the border with Russia.

Russia has been engaged in a long, slow advance through eastern Ukraine, with most of the fighting taking place in the Donetsk region. Russian forces have also been trying to capture areas in the Kharkiv region and have advanced into villages in southeastern Dnipropetrovsk.

The General Staff of Ukraine’s military, in an evening report, said Pishchane was one of several villages where Russian forces had been trying to advance. The report said six of seven attacks in the area had been repelled.

On Thursday, the Kharkiv regional governor said Tykhe was one of a number of villages where 17 clashes had occurred near the Russian border.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said this month that Moscow’s troops held the initiative throughout the front line, estimated by Ukraine’s top commander to stretch over 1,250 km (775 miles).

The top Ukrainian commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, cast fresh doubt on the Russian assessment on Friday, saying Moscow’s plans to seize major centres “are not being implemented and are constantly subject to revision and postponement”.

“We can state that Ukrainian servicemen stopped the enemy’s spring-summer offensive campaign and continue to destroy the Kremlin’s further plans,” Syrskyi wrote on the General Staff’s Facebook page.

(Reporting by ReutersWriting by Maxim Rodionov and Ron PopeskiEditing by Andrew Osborn and Rosalba O’Brien)