Russia’s defense ministry says its forces have taken control of 12 settlements in the northern part of Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine.
The ministry announced on Friday that its troops had seized the settlements over the past week. Moscow is intensifying its offensive in northern Kharkiv region, since its troops crossed the border earlier this month.
Russia also continues to carry out attacks on the city of Kharkiv, which is the region’s capital and the second-biggest Ukrainian city, using missiles and other weapons.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a news conference in China that he does not currently plan to seize the city.
Putin also said he intends to create what he called a “security buffer zone” in border areas in light of Ukraine’s shelling of Russian neighborhoods there, causing civilian deaths.
Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi posted on social media that there will be heavy battles in the Kharkiv region, and the enemy is preparing for it.
Russia’s defense ministry also announced on Friday that Ukrainian forces had mounted a large wave of aerial and naval drone attacks in Russian-annexed Crimea and three Russian regions.
Russian media say the Ukrainian raids caused a fire at an oil refinery in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar. The ministry claimed its air defenses had destroyed 102 aerial drones.