Russia said on Saturday its forces had captured another settlement in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, pressing a renewed push along the front line.
The Russian Defence Ministry said in a Telegram statement that troops had taken the village of Starytsia, about 43 kilometres northeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.
A day earlier, Moscow also reported seizing the nearby village of Symynivka, roughly 8 kilometres northwest of Starytsia.
Ukrainian authorities have not commented on the claims, which could not be independently verified due to the ongoing war.
The war is set to enter its fifth year next month.
Kyiv on Saturday slammed deadly Russian strikes as negotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the United States met for a second day in Abu Dhabi to discuss a possible path to ending the war.
“Peace efforts? Trilateral meeting in the UAE? Diplomacy?” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga wrote. “For Ukrainians, this was another night of Russian terror.”
He accused President Vladimir Putin of ordering a large-scale missile attack while talks were underway, saying the strikes had hit “not only our people, but also the negotiation table”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia had launched more than 370 attack drones and 21 missiles overnight.
Abu Dhabi talks
The meetings mark the first known direct contact between Ukrainian and Russian officials over a US-backed proposal to end the war.
Ukraine’s chief negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said the talks focused on “the parameters for ending Russia’s war and the further logic of the negotiation process”.
An initial US draft reportedly drew criticism in Kiev and western Europe for echoing Moscow’s positions, while later versions angered Russia by raising the idea of European peacekeepers.
Both sides say the future of territory in the eastern Donbass region remains one of the main unresolved issues in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions and devastated large parts of Ukraine.
