Russia claimed control of two more villages in eastern Ukraine, continuing its months-long dominance over Kyiv on the battlefield.
For weeks, Moscow has regularly reported new territorial gains in eastern Ukraine as Ukrainian forces, overwhelmed in numbers and firepower, struggle to resist.
Russia’s Defense Ministry announced that its forces had “liberated the settlement” of Novooleksandrivka, advancing further west into the Donetsk region. This village, located northwest of occupied Ocheretyne, is now the westernmost point held by Moscow in the region.
Additionally, Moscow reported the capture of the small village of Spirne, situated further north in the Donetsk region, near the border with the neighboring Lugansk region.
Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine has now dragged on for nearly two and a half years.
Meanwhile, Moscow has blocked access to 81 European media outlets in retaliation for the EU’s ban on four Kremlin-funded news organizations, Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday.
Last month, Brussels declared it would suspend the broadcasting activities of the state-run RIA Novosti news agency, the pro-government newspapers Izvestia and Rossiiskaya Gazeta, and the news website Voice of Europe starting June 25.
In response, Moscow has listed 81 newspapers, broadcasters, and magazines from all but two EU member states that will no longer be accessible inside Russia. Among those affected by the ban are the French news agency AFP, the German weekly Der Spiegel, and the European edition of Politico.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry claimed these news outlets “systematically disseminate false information about the course of the special military operation,” referring to the Kremlin’s term for its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
