Russia says captured another village in eastern Ukraine

MOSCOW: Russian forces said on Saturday they had captured another village in eastern Ukraine near the town of Kurakhove, as Moscow continued its steady advance.

Russian forces “liberated the settlement of Zhelannoye Vtoroye” in Ukraine´s Donetsk region, the defence ministry said, using the Russian name for the village of Zhelanne Druge.

The village is located close to Pokrovsk, a logistics hub for the Ukrainian army that is threatened by the advance of Russian troops.

Russian-installed authorities in the city of Gorlivka also said on Saturday that 11 civilians had been wounded by shelling from the Ukrainian side. Separately, the defence ministry said Russia had downed 10 Ukrainian drones overnight over its Belgorod, Voronezh and Kursk regions, which border Ukraine. Voronezh governor Alexander Gusev said on Telegram that a civilian was wounded by a Ukrainian drone.

On the Ukrainian side, two people were killed by Russian strikes in the Zaporizhzhia region in the south of the country, regional governor Ivan Fyodorov said on Telegram. Russia launched its Ukraine offensive in February 2022 and currently occupies 18 percent of the country. After a series of setbacks in 2022, Russian forces largely held ground in 2023 and have been advancing further in 2024 against often outgunned and outmanned Ukrainian forces.

Zelensky to attend defence talks in Germany with Biden: President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday he would attend an international meeting to discuss military support for Ukraine to be held in Germany next week. The military meeting at the US air base in Ramstein near Frankfurt is expected to bring together more than 50 of Ukraine´s allies, including US President Joe Biden. “We are preparing for the 25th Ramstein meeting on October 12, which will be the first to take place at the leaders´ level,” he said on social media. Zelensky said he would present “clear, concrete steps towards a just end of the war”, adding that Russia could be stopped by “the determination of our partners and the strengthening of Ukraine”. The last meeting in September, also at Ramstein, was attended by Zelensky, who appealed for additional weapons to repel advancing Russian forces. The gathering will come at a crucial juncture for Ukraine ahead of the US election next month, which could upend the support that Kyiv receives from its biggest backer. Republican candidate Donald Trump has long been critical of the billions of dollars the United States has given to Ukraine and has echoed Russian talking points about the conflict.