Russian forces capture settlement of Novodmytrivka in eastern Ukraine

Russia's Defence Ministry said on Friday that its forces had captured the settlement of Novodmytrivka in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, their latest gain in what Defence Minister Andrei Belousov described as an accelerated advance.

Ukraine's military made no mention of the village, north of the key town of Kurakhove.

But in a late night report, the General Staff noted it was among eight villages where Russian forces were engaged in fighting and trying to advance.

Reuters could not independently verify battlefield accounts from either side.

Russian Defence Minister Belousov was shown in a video posted online visiting a command post in Ukraine manned by the Russian army grouping "North", where he handed out medals for bravery.

"This work we have done here now has crushed the best (Ukrainian) units. Now the advance has accelerated. We have thwarted their entire 2025 campaign," he said.

Ukraine's General Staff said the Kurakhove sector of the 1,000-km (600-mile) front was gripped by heavy fighting. Ten of 35 armed clashes in the sector were still raging, it said.

Russian forces hold a little less than 20% of Ukraine's territory and have advanced through Donetsk region over the past two months at their fastest rate since March 2022, according to open source data.

They are approaching Kurakhove and the town of Pokrovsk to the north, site of the sole colliery that supplies Ukraine's steel industry with coking coal.

Russian forces have made gains still farther north near Kupiansk, a rail hub and logistics centre, in Kharkiv region.