Russia says captured two more east Ukraine settlements

Russia said connected Sunday (July 6, 2025) it had captured different 2 settlements successful eastbound Ukraine, 1 successful the Donetsk portion and 1 successful the Kharkiv region.

Ukraine did not instantly remark connected Russia's claims.

Moscow has been grinding guardant connected the beforehand enactment for implicit a year, pressing its vantage against overstretched and outmanned Ukrainian troops.

On Sunday, Russia said it had captured the colony of Piddubne successful Donetsk and Sobolivka successful Kharkiv.

Piddubne was location to astir 500 radical earlier the struggle and lies conscionable 7 km from the borderline of Ukraine's cardinal Dnipropetrovsk region.

The Sobolivka colony lies immoderate 3 km westbound of the municipality of Kupiansk, extracurricular of areas Russia claims it is holding, according to battlefield maps by the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

In 2 abstracted Telegram posts, the Russian defence ministry said its service units had "liberated" the settlements of Poddubnoye and Sobolevka, utilizing Russian spellings for the localities.

The Russian subject accelerated its advances for a 3rd consecutive period successful June.

Its territorial gains for that period were the biggest since November past year, according to an AFP investigation of ISW data.

Russia and Ukraine struck each different with hundreds of drones connected Sunday, throwing Russian aerial question successful disarray, days aft Moscow launched its largest aerial battle successful the much than 3-year-old war.

Photos circulating connected societal media showed crowds huddling astatine Russian airports including cardinal planetary hubs successful Moscow and St. Petersburg, arsenic hundreds of flights were delayed oregon canceled owed to Ukrainian drone strikes connected Saturday and overnight, according to Russia’s Transport Ministry.

The formation disruptions deed Moscow’s Sheremetyevo and St. Petersburg’s main Pulkovo airports. Other airports successful occidental and cardinal Russia besides faced disruptions.

Russian aerial defenses changeable down 120 Ukrainian drones during the nighttime attacks, and 39 much earlier 2 p.m. Moscow clip (11 GMT) connected Sunday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said. It did not clarify however galore had deed targets, oregon however galore had been launched successful total.

Early connected Sunday, Ukrainian drones injured 2 civilians successful Russia’s Belgorod portion adjacent the border, its Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said Sunday.