Struggling on the Eastern Front, the Ukrainian forces have just - according to the Russian army, Friday April 5 - lost a town there. This village, Vodiané, is located about 5 km from Donetsk, a city under Moscow control since 2014.

“On the Avdiïvka front, units of the Center grouping” of the Russian armed forces “liberated the locality of Vodiané,” said the Russian Ministry of Defense in a press release, assuring that Russian troops were also able to “occupy more advantageous positions.

Thirty-nine Russian strikes “in response” to Ukrainian attacks

Russia claimed on Friday that its recent massive strikes on Ukraine, which notably damaged the electricity network, had been carried out "in response" to Ukrainian attacks targeting refineries on Russian soil.

"From March 31 to April 5 of this year, the Russian armed forces carried out 39 group strikes (...) against facilities in the energy sector of Ukraine in response to attempts by the Kiev regime to damage facilities in Russia's oil, gas and energy sectors," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Russia has been facing multiple Ukrainian drone attacks on its refineries for weeks, several of which have caused damage.

A recent Ukrainian attack targeted a major industrial site in Tatarstan, a region located more than 1,000 km from the border.

Ukraine had promised to bring the fighting to Russian soil in retaliation for the numerous bombings on its territory.

Russian troops, for their part, have recently carried out several bombings of Ukrainian cities, particularly damaging power stations and causing massive power outages.

On the front, the Ministry of Defense assured that Russian soldiers had “liberated the town of Vodiané”, located 5 km from the city of Donetsk, under the control of Moscow since 2014.

According to the ministry, the Russian military, which has been gaining ground since the fall of Avdiivka in February, was also able to "occupy more advantageous positions" in this sector.

With AFP

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