Russia Claims New Ukraine Gains Ahead Of Putin-Trump Summit

Russia said on Thursday its troops had captured two new settlements in eastern Ukraine on the eve of a summit between President Vladimir Putin and US counterpart Donald Trump.

The defence ministry said Russian forces captured the village of Iskra and the small town of Shcherbynivka in Ukraine's Donetsk region, which the Kremlin claimed to have annexed in September 2022.

Shcherbynivka is near the mining town of Toretsk, captured by Russian troops in February, and Kostiantynivka -- one of the last large urban areas in the Donetsk region still held by Ukraine.

The Russian army has accelerated its gains in recent months.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday conceded that Russian forces had advanced by up to 10 kilometres (six miles) in a narrow section of the front line near the coal mining town of Dobropillia.

The Russian army's gains on Tuesday were the biggest for a single 24-hour period in over a year, according to an AFP analysis of data from the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

In southern Russia, 13 people, including two children, were injured Thursday in a Ukrainian drone attack that damaged around 10 residential buildings in Rostov-on-Don, regional governor Yuri Sliusar said on Telegram.

The Russian military claimed to have shot down 268 Ukrainian drones and four glide bombs in 24 hours. 

In Ukraine, the air force said Russia had fired two missiles and 45 drones at Ukrainian territory overnight.

Two people were injured in the northern Sumy region and one in the Kherson region, according to local authorities. 

Putin and Trump are to meet on Friday in Alaska for a summit which the Kremlin said would focus on "the resolution of the Ukraine crisis".

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