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Pro-Russia rebels in a separatist part of Moldova are preparing to ask Vladimir Putin to annex their region amid warnings that an emboldened Kremlin is trying to destabilise Europe.
Gennady Chorba, a politician in Transnistria, which borders Ukraine, has said the rebel government will submit its request to the Kremlin on Wednesday during a special congress that last met in 2006.
First, the Russians launched missiles from the south and then attacked with Iranian-made Shahed “kamikaze” drones, Ukrainian forces reported.
“At the beginning of the night, the enemy tried with the help of tactical aviation from the Black Sea to destroy our air defense system, for which they used Kh-31P missiles. But they were shot down over the sea,” Humenyuk said.
Avdiivka was on the front lines of war between Kyiv and Moscow for almost a decade. Fierce fighting raged there for months following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago.
The withdrawal was far less drawn out. When the Ukrainian military abandoned the town on Saturday, handing Russia its most important victory in months, it was rapid and ruthless.
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Large numbers of Russian troops are attacking Avdiivka in east Ukraine from all directions, and the situation is increasingly difficult for Ukrainian troops defending the town, its mayor said on Thursday.
Russian forces have taken the initiative on the eastern front in the industrial Donbas region of Ukraine and have been trying to cut supply lines and encircle Ukrainian forces dug in at Avdiivka since October.
The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Sunday that its forces have taken control of the village of Krokhmalne in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. A Ukrainian military spokesman subsequently confirmed that Kyiv’s forces had withdrawn from the area, marking a small but noteworthy advance for Russian forces.
The latest territorial gain follows a similar claim made on Thursday by the Russian Defense Ministry, stating that its forces had seized control of the settlement named Vesele in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. As Russia continues to exert offensive pressure in eastern Ukrainian towns like Kupiansk, Lyman, and Avdiivka, the territorial gains have been modest, with the conflict showing signs of escalation.
