Russian forces capture Bratske village in southern Dnipropetrovsk as fighting continues, leaving over a million without power after overnight attacks.
MOSCOW: Russia’s defence ministry announced on Thursday its forces had seized the village of Bratske in southern Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region.
The capture comes as Moscow’s troops continue advancing in an area it does not officially claim as its own.
Kyiv reported Russian night-time attacks on the Dnipropetrovsk region left more than a million people without power.
Fighting persists despite freezing temperatures as the war’s fourth anniversary approaches.
Russian forces first entered the Dnipropetrovsk region, located west of Donetsk, in August last year.
The region is not among the four Ukrainian territories – Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – that the Kremlin has proclaimed as part of Russia.
Moscow also occupies parts of Ukraine’s north-western Kharkiv region alongside its pocket in Dnipropetrovsk.
Last week, Ukraine ordered the evacuation of thousands of children and their parents from frontline settlements in Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has recently insisted Moscow intends to take the rest of eastern Ukraine.
He stated this goal would be achieved “by force or by diplomatic means”.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.