Russia and Ukraine forces face off in intense fighting on front lines

In eastern Ukraine, fierce fighting has reported by Ukrainian and Russian forces.

Moscow announced on Tuesday that it had taken control of a settlement in Kharkiv, furthering the slow but steady progress it has been making on the front lines over the past year while the Ukrainian military said on Tuesday that its forces were repressing Russian attacks in the Donetsk region.

In Donetsk’s troubled towns of Chasiv Yar and Toretsk, Kyiv’s forces were engaged in intense fighting, according to a report from Kyiv.

The Khortytsya troop group, which is tasked with keeping ground in key industrial regions, said in a statement posted on social media that “the enemy continues to storm our positions at the Kramatorsk and Toretsk sectors” with the support of artillery.

The organization continued, “Heavy fighting is still occurring in Chasiv Yar and Toretsk’s urban areas.”

Russian forces are advance on the flanks of Chasiv Yar, a strategic hilltop town that once hosted 12, 000 people before the war, according to Ukrainian military bloggers with connections to the Ministry of Defense.

Russian forces have been fighting for months to capture Toretsk, one of a number of mining towns in the Donetsk region.

Russian troops “liberated” the settlement of Dvorichna in Kharkiv, according to the Ministry of Defense in Moscow.

The village, which is situated across the strategic Oskil River, was seized by Russian forces when they launched an extensive invasion of Ukraine in 2022, before being overtaken by Kyiv months later in a swift counteroffensive. It had a population of more than 3, 000 before the war.

But Ukraine’s army has been pushed back over the past year, outgunned and outmanned by Russia’s forces across the 1, 000km (600-mile) front lines.

Overnight attacks

Meanwhile, both sides continue to launch drones and missiles across their shared border.

According to local authorities, Russian airstrikes on Tuesday injured eight people, ignored a private business, and damaged residential structures in Ukraine.

In addition to other locations, attacks were reported in Kharkiv and the Black Sea port of Odesa.