Discontent has been growing in the Russian border region at the failure of the local authorities to secure their return to Moscow-controlled territory or provide updates on their status.
Despite Ukraine’s hold on part of the Kursk region, Russia has been advancing elsewhere across the 1,000-kilometre front.
Moscow’s army on Friday said it had captured another village, Novovasylivka, in eastern Ukraine, where its forces are advancing on a key logistics hub and a road that is crucial for military supplies.
Novovasylivka is close to the key hub of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region, and to the internal border with Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, which so far has been spared ground combat.
Russia in 2022 said it was annexing the Donetsk region – despite not having it under full control – but has not publicly made territorial claims on Dnipropetrovsk.
