Russia captures another village in northeastern Ukraine, Defence Ministry says

Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov attend an expanded meeting of the Collegium of the Defence Ministry in Moscow, Russia, Dec 17, 2025. Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Pool via REUTERS

The Russian Defence Ministry said on Saturday its forces had completed the takeover of the village of Starytsya in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region.

The village is near the town of Vovchansk, close to the Ukraine-Russia border, where Russian forces launched an incursion in May 2024.

Moscow's troops have in recent months tried to extend gains in the area despite Ukrainian resistance.

The General Staff of Ukraine's military, in a report late on Saturday, said Russian forces had launched six attacks on an area including Starytsya. But it made no acknowledgement that the village had changed hands.

Ukraine's DeepState military blog, which uses open-source reports to track the positions of both armies, made no mention of the village in a report on Friday, but said Russian forces "are continuing their pressure in the Vovchansk area."

The Russian Defence Ministry report said Moscow's troops had also carried out a massive strike overnight on Ukrainian long-range drone sites and energy facilities.

Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.

Russian forces have been engaged in a slow drive westward through southeastern Ukraine, announcing the capture of new villages several times a week.

Most of its gains have been in the Donetsk region, but Russian forces have also applied pressure to Ukrainian defences in the Kharkiv region and in the Zaporizhzhia region to the south, which they partially occupy.