Russia says captured villages in three separate areas of Ukraine front
Ukraine did not immediately comment on Moscow's claims.
In a statement, the Russian Defence Ministry said its forces had 'liberated' the settlements of Popiv Yar in the eastern Donetsk region, Degtiarne in the northeast Kharkiv region and Kamianske in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.
Kamianske, on the banks of the Dnipro river, was home to around 2,000 people before the conflict.
Degtiarne is a tiny hamlet near the Russian border but lies in an area of the front line that Moscow's forces had not penetrated since the early months of its offensive. Popiv Yar is a small village south of the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk.
The Russian military accelerated its advances for a third consecutive month in June.
Its territorial gains for that month were the biggest since November last year, according to an AFP analysis of data from the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
U.S. President Donald Trump has given Moscow '50 days' from Monday (July 14, 2025) to reach a peace deal or face bruising sanctions, but Ukraine says the Kremlin has no interest in ending the fighting and will press on regardless.
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Donald Trump, left, looks on as Tulsi Gabbard speaks at the National Guard Association of the United States' 146th General Conference, August 26, 2024, in Detroit, US. File Image/AP In Gabbard's words: 'The information we are releasing today clearly shows there was a treasonous conspiracy in 2016 committed by officials at the highest level of our government. Their goal was to subvert the will of the American people and enact what was essentially a years-long coup with the objective of trying to usurp the President from fulfilling the mandate bestowed upon him by the American people.' 'No matter how powerful, every person involved in this conspiracy must be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, to ensure nothing like this ever happens again. The American people's faith and trust in our democratic republic and therefore the future of our nation depends on it.' She claimed that the Obama administration's post-election assessment of Russian interference contradicted the intelligence community's consensus in the months before the election, which had allegedly concluded that Russia was unlikely to interfere or influence the outcome. Her office has made available a cache of documents including a partially redacted Obama-era intelligence assessment on cyber threats, and internal memos from senior officials such as then-DNI James Clapper. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Among those named by Gabbard were Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan, former US Secretary of State John Kerry, former National Security Adviser Susan Rice, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and Obama himself. Gabbard's team also published commentary alongside these documents, alleging that leaks following a December 9, 2016, meeting of Obama's senior national security team were part of a broader disinformation campaign. 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STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Warner also pointed out that recent intelligence assessments under Gabbard's leadership still acknowledge that Russia continues to engage in influence operations targeting the United States. A March intelligence report concluded that: 'Moscow probably believes information operations efforts to influence U.S. elections are advantageous,' and that these activities are part of a long-term strategy to undermine confidence in American democracy. The big question: Can Trump legally prosecute Obama? The question of whether Trump can direct federal prosecutors to pursue criminal cases against Obama or his former officials rests not on legal prohibition, but on political precedent. Since US President Richard Nixon resigned amid the Watergate scandal in 1974, successive administrations have generally refrained from overtly influencing prosecutorial decisions at the Department of Justice (DOJ). However, these boundaries are guided more by custom than law. 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