Vadym Filashkin

Ukrainian forces have reportedly secured new positions in Russia's Kursk region, as announced by President Volodymyr Zelensky. This marks a significant expansion of Ukrainian-controlled territory along the border. While the president did not provide specific details, he confirmed that more Russian prisoners of war had been captured, potentially to be used in future exchanges.

Ukraine said on Saturday that nine people were killed in the country's Donetsk and Kharkiv regions due to Russian airstrikes.

A statement by the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said that four people were killed and six others injured in the northeastern Kharkiv region, where it claimed Russia attacked settlements in the region's Bohodukhiv, Izium and Kupiansk districts during the day.

Russian attacks across eastern Ukraine killed at least 11 people Saturday, while rescuers in the city of Dnipro dug through rubble after a Russian strike ripped through a nine-story residential building, leaving one dead, officials said.

Authorities in Ukraine have initiated a compulsory evacuation of the cities of Toretsk and Pokrovsk, currently under Kyiv's control in the Donetsk region, as reported by Vadym Filashkin, governor of the Donetsk regional military administration, to rbc.ru.

Russian forces have escalated attacks near Toretsk, a frontline town in eastern Ukraine that has remained relatively calm over recent months of fighting, officials and AFP journalists reported Wednesday.

Ukrainian forces lacking critical manpower and arms have struggled to hold the line in the eastern Donbas region, which the Kremlin claims is part of Russia.

Civilians continue to die across Ukraine as analysts warned that delays in U.S. military assistance would see Kiev struggle to fight off Russian offensives.

Russian shelling killed four people in the eastern Ukraine region of Donetsk, authorities said yesterday, as Moscow's forces aim to push deeper into the war-battered industrial region.