Russia claims capture of territory in east of Ukraine
- 18 January, 04:21
The Russian Defence Ministry said on Thursday that its forces captured a small village in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
“In the Donetsk direction, as a result of successful actions of Southern Group troop units, the settlement of Vesele in the Donetsk People’s Republic was liberated,” Russia’s defence ministry said.
The ministry provided no details about the settlement. It said only that the village had been taken by what it called the active efforts of units, which are part of Russia’s southern military group. Russia’s battlefield assertion has yet to be verified.
With a pre-conflict population of around 100,000, Vesele settlement is located 20 km north-east of Russian-occupied Bakhmut district that has been the site of fierce fighting.
Russia annexed Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which it calls Donetsk People’s Republic, along with Ukraine’s Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in September 2022. The annexed regions make up about 15 percent of Ukraine’s territory. The annexation occurred after the illegal referendum held in these regions. After the annexation Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced his country’s intention to join NATO.
Russia launched its full-fledged invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, forcing millions of Ukrainians from their homes.
