Russia claims capture of one of last settlements in Ukraine's Donetsk
Kiev/Moscow
Russia said on Sunday its troops have seized the Karl Marx settlement in the Donetsk region, as they continue to make ground in the eastern Ukrainian region.
This means the conquest of the Donetsk region is almost complete, with only two settlements remaining under the control of Ukrainian units, the Russian state news agency TASS reported, citing military sources. Many places in the former territories of the Soviet Union still carry names given by the Communist Party that ruled at the time.
Settlements were often named after Karl Marx or the founder of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.
The region surrounding the Russian city of St Petersburg is still officially called Leningrad Oblast, even though the city itself was renamed from Leningrad to St Petersburg in 1991.
Kiev has not confirmed the capture of the settlement.
Ukraine has been fending off a full-scale Russian invasion for more than three years, with Donetsk a focus of fighting for months.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday accused Russia of increasingly terrorizing his country's civilians, reporting that at least 1,800 drones were launched at Ukraine in the past week.
Russian forces also dropped over 1,200 glide bombs on Ukraine this week and launched 83 missiles, the president wrote on Telegram.
The Ukrainian leader meanwhile praised the country's air defence.
Specially developed interceptor drones shot down hundreds of Iranian-made Shahed combat drones launched at Ukraine this week, he said.
Zelensky said he recently held a number of meetings with Western partners to further develop these defensive drones.
Meanwhile, Russian troops have intensified their efforts to capture the islands in the Dnipro river delta south of the port city of Kherson, Ukrainian officials reported on Sunday.
The number of daily attacks has increased from two to three to now between six and 10, Vladyslav Voloshyn, spokesman for the Ukrainian armed forces responsible for this section, said on state television.
'The enemy wants to establish certain bridgeheads in the region,' Voloshyn said.
The Russian attacks have so far been repelled, the spokesman said. The claims could not initially be independently verified. Ukrainian military officials say whoever controls the Dnipro islands has a significant tactical advantage.
If Russian units were to succeed in controlling the islands, an advance onto the mainland at the southernmost point of Ukraine's defensive lines could not be ruled out. Additionally, all shipping in the region would be blocked as a result.
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