🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
Russia's Ministry of Defense on Monday said its forces had successfully advanced in northeast Ukraine over the last three days.
Newsweek could not independently verify the claims made by the defense ministry, which reported Russian troops had advanced approximately two miles along the Kupyansk front.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's military in recent weeks has strengthened its efforts to regain territories in the northeast region of Ukraine. Kupyansk is a rail hub, and Putin's forces had used it as a logistics and supply site after seizing control of the city during the early stages of the war that the Russian leader launched on February 24, 2022. However, Kyiv recaptured control of Kupyansk in September in one of its first major counteroffensives.
"Over the past three days, the advance of Russian troops...amounted to 11 kilometers along the front and more than three kilometers deep into the enemy's defense," Russia's Ministry of Defense said in a statement, according to a translation by the Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The AFP reported the ministry also said Russian forces had improved their positions along the front line in the area around Kupyansk while fighting off Ukrainian counterattacks.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S.-based think tank, on Sunday wrote in an assessment of the war that Moscow claimed its forces had made advancements along the Kupyansk-Svatove-Kreminna line on Sunday. ISW added that Russia's Ministry of Defense also said Ukrainian forces were unsuccessful with attacks on Russian forces near several villages in the area, including Synkivka and Novoselivske.
Newsweek reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense by email for further comment.
Meanwhile, the ISW posted a map on its website on Sunday that showed assessed areas of advancement by Russian forces, including in the direction of Kupyansk.
Despite the reported advances by Russian units, the country's military has stalled elsewhere, with the ISW reporting in recent days of Ukraine making advancements in its ongoing counteroffensive.
The report of successful operations in Ukraine's northeast from Moscow's Defense Ministry also comes on the same day that Kyiv's military announced Russia has lost more than 250,000 troops in the war.
On Monday, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported that Russia has lost 250,240 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of the war. Newsweek has not been able to independently verify Ukraine's tally, and other estimates tend to be more conservative than Kyiv's. The Kremlin does not frequently comment on its own estimates of troop casualties, and when it does, experts have said its numbers are not accurate.
Russian officials on Monday also reported downing multiple Ukrainian drones on its territory, including one less than 125 miles from Moscow. However, Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for the drones.
About the writer
Jon Jackson is a News Editor at Newsweek based in New York. His focus is on reporting on the Ukraine ... Read more