• The villages are Novopokrovske and Stepova Novoselivka.
• Novopokrovske is located north of a village that Moscow captured on Sunday.
• Moscow has been advancing westwards since capturing the industrial hub of Avdiivka in February.

On Monday, Russia announced that it had captured two more villages in eastern Ukraine, as Moscow’s forces have maintained pressure on the struggling Ukrainian army from several directions for weeks.

After claiming two other villages over the weekend, Russia’s defense ministry announced that it had taken the village of Novopokrovske in the eastern Donetsk region and the village of Stepova Novoselivka in the northeast Kharkiv region.

Novopokrovske is located north of a village that Moscow captured on Sunday, in an area of the front where Moscow has been steadily advancing westwards since it seized the industrial hub of Avdiivka in February.

Throughout this summer, Moscow has announced the capture of a new village in Ukraine’s east almost every week. Stepova Novoselivka is situated southeast of the city of Kupyansk, where Russia has also been advancing for months.

Russian forces seized Kupyansk at the start of their 2022 offensive, but Ukrainian forces recaptured the city several months later. In May, Russia launched a renewed local offensive in the Kharkiv region.

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