Russia captures villages in east

Iryna Sazonova of the Siayvo bookstore prepares books for recycling in Kyiv. Recycling second-hand Russian-language books to raise funds for the Ukrainian army, an idea inspired by customers, is a novel sign of the mood for ‘de-Russification’ since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Pic/AFP

Russian-backed forces have made some advances in eastern Ukraine, Britain said on Friday, even as Moscow's hold weakens in the south, where a Russian-installed official has advised residents to flee a region Russia claims to have annexed.

A British intelligence update said forces led by the private Russian military company Wagner Group had captured the villages of Optyine and Ivangrad south of the fiercely-contested town of Bakhmut, the first such advance in more than three months. "There have been few, if any, other settlements seized by regular Russian or separatist forces since early July," said the daily update from London, which normally focuses on Ukrainian battlefield successes.

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President Volodymyr Zelensky marked Ukraine's Defenders Day holiday on Friday. In a video address delivered on hills outside capital Kyiv, Zelensky thanked Ukraine's armed forces for defending their country. He said everything that had been taken away from Ukraine would be returned, and no soldier left in captivity.

"It seems that the current enemy in its evil unites all the enemies of our statehood that we faced before," Zelensky said on the wooded hills, site of an historic military outpost overlooking the Dnipro River. "By defeating this enemy, we will respond to all enemies who encroached on Ukraine - on those who lived, who live and who will live on our land. This will be a victory for all our people. This will be a victory for the Armed Forces of Ukraine."

Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in late August against Russian forces occupying the country since their invasion in February, pushing them out of the northeast and putting them under heavy pressure in the south.

15%
Ukraine's territory that Russia claims to have annexed</p

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