Moscow announced on Monday that its forces had seized two additional frontline villages in eastern Ukraine, including one in the northeastern Kharkiv region, where Ukrainian forces had initially repelled Russian troops at the start of the full-scale invasion.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported that its soldiers had “liberated the village of Kotlyarivka in the Kharkiv region” and “the village of Soloviove in the Donetsk People’s Republic,” referring to the self-proclaimed breakaway territory in eastern Ukraine.
Kotlyarivka is situated approximately 20 kilometers from the besieged Ukrainian stronghold of Kupiansk in the northeast, an area that has experienced heavy shelling amid speculation that Moscow might launch a major offensive there.
Meanwhile, Soloviove is located on the eastern front, not far from the village of Ocheretyne, which Moscow claimed to have captured on Sunday.
Facing severe ammunition shortages, largely due to delays in U.S. military aid, Kyiv has struggled to maintain its defensive positions along the front line in recent months.
Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, stated late last month that Kyiv had withdrawn from three villages in the eastern Donetsk region and was constructing a new line of fortifications amid concerns about further Russian advances.
I am an experienced writer, analyst, and author. My exposure in English journalism spans more than 28 years. In the past, I have been working with daily The Muslim (Lahore Bureau), daily Business Recorder (Lahore/Islamabad Bureaus), Daily Times, Islamabad, daily The Nation (Lahore and Karachi). With daily The Nation, I have served as Resident Editor, Karachi. Since 2009, I have been working as a Freelance Writer/Editor for American organizations.
