Russia claims to have taken a second village as it advances further into an area largely spared seizures of land since Moscow launched its offensive in 2022.
Overnight strikes by both sides claimed six lives, four in central Ukraine and two in western Russia, according to officials in both countries.
The Russian army said its forces had “liberated the settlement of Maliyevka” in Dnipropetrovsk, weeks after it seized the first village in the region.
Dnipropetrovsk is not one of the five Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea – that Moscow has publicly claimed as Russian territory.
In a separate message, Moscow said it had also “liberated the settlement of Zeleny Gai” in Donetsk region on the border with Dnipropetrovsk, adding that it was an important stronghold used by Ukraine to protect the area.
Shrapnel from a Russian missile, following a five-hour bombardment in the Kyivskyi district of Kharkiv
Further north in Kharkiv, a Russian strike destroyed a large boiler room that will be impossible to repair before winter, while in Sumy, another strike hit a regional administration building, local authorities said.
Supported by swarms of drones, Russia gains new settlements almost daily, but they are normally reduced to rubble and emptied of inhabitants after months of fighting.
The summer offensive comes despite a call from the United States to cease violence and peace talks in Istanbul, which so far have yielded no breakthroughs.
Further Russian advances could harm Ukraine’s economy and energy supplies as Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk, which has been occupied since 2014, are part of Ukraine’s mining heartland, particularly for coal that powers the electricity grid.
Ukrainian authorities have already been ordering civilians with children to flee a front line that is creeping closer.
Deeper Russian advances could mean more attacks on one of Ukraine’s largest cities, Dnipro, though Russian troops are around 200 kilometres away.
Ukraine drones hit Stavropol
Ukrainian drones hit a radio and electronic warfare equipment plant in Russia’s Stavropol region in an overnight attack on Saturday, an official from the SBU security service told Reuters.
The official said two facilities at the Signal plant in the city of Stavropol, about 540 km (335 miles) from the Ukrainian border, were damaged in the attacks. He shared several short videos showing an explosion and a large column of dark smoke rising into the sky.
He said the plant was one of Russia’s leading producers of electronic warfare equipment, including radar, radio navigation equipment, and remote control radio equipment.
“This night, long-range SBU drones struck the production facilities of the Stavropol Radio Plant ‘Signal’,” said the SBU official.
“Each such attack stops production processes and reduces the enemy’s military potential. This work will continue.”
Reuters was unable to verify the details of the attack. Russia’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, both sides have launched multiple drone attacks on each other.
Ukraine, which is fighting a much larger Russian army, has developed a drone industry from scratch and is now focusing on increasing its capacity to produce more long-range drones.
