Ukrainian forces liberated two villages in eastern Donetsk Oblast about 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of embattled Pokrovsk, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said on Oct. 26.
The General Staff said that Ukrainian troops operating in the area cleared Kucheriv Yar and Sukhetske of Russian troops over the past 10 days.
Since the rapid Russian advance in the area, Ukrainian forces have taken back nine villages, and nine more have been cleared of Russian sabotage groups, the General Staff said in its Facebook post.
Ukrainian open-source battlefield monitoring group DeepState also shows the villages of Kucheriv Yar and Sukhetske as controlled by Ukrainian forces.
The villages are about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Dobropillia, a town that Russian forces have heavily struck since the August breach.
Across the front, Russian forces continue to launch offensives on multiple sectors despite the Ukrainian claims that its troops have effectively stalled Moscow's momentum.
The 7th Corps of Ukraine’s Air Assault Forces acknowledged the Russian penetration to the railway on Oct. 20. »