KYIV, Ukraine: Russia said on Wednesday its forces had captured a district in the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar near Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow has been pressing for months.
The claim from Moscow came just after Kyiv said that Russian strikes on the industrial city of Dnipro had killed five people and wounded nearly three dozen more including a 14-year-old girl.
The defence ministry said its troops had “liberated” the Novy district of Chasiv Yar, but it was unclear if it was claiming its forces had crossed a canal which runs through the eastern part of the town.
The capture of Chasiv Yar -- a prized military hub that was once a sleepy town home to some 12,000 people -- would pave the way for Russian advances towards the last Ukrainian-controlled civilian centres in the Donetsk region.