MOSCOW, Dec 19, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Russia on Thursday claimed to have taken control of two new villages in eastern Ukraine, near the industrial town of Kurakhove which it is on the brink of capturing, Russian news agencies reported.

The defence ministry said in a daily briefing that troops had "liberated" the village of Zelenivka and Novyi Komar, southwest of Kurakhove, a strategic industrial town on the banks of a reservoir that Moscow is trying to encircle.

Noviy Komar is close to the larger village of Velyka Novosilka, where Ukraine has a large command and logistics post, a Moscow-installed official, Vladimir Rogov, told RIA Novosti news agency.

Moscow has been advancing in east Ukraine for months, pressing its advantage against overstretched and outgunned Ukrainian soldiers, and has claimed new villages almost daily this month.

The nearly three-year conflict has escalated sharply in recent months, with Kyiv deploying US and British-supplied long-range missiles in attacks on Russian soil and Moscow firing an experimental hypersonic weapon at Ukraine in response.