The Russian Defence Ministry reported that its forces have taken control of the village of Rozlyv in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, marking a key point in their ongoing westward advance.
Ukraine's military stated that Russian forces launched five attacks on Rozlyv and the nearby village of Kostiantynopil, but did not confirm that Rozlyv is now under Russian control. The Ukrainian General Staff indicated in a late evening report that three battles were still ongoing in the area.
DeepState, a Ukrainian blog that monitors the 1,000-km front line using open sources, noted recent Russian advances near Rozlyv and heavy fighting further east near Toretsk, another contested town.
Rozlyv is located south of Pokrovsk, a town that has been targeted by Russian forces for weeks and the site of Ukraine's only colliery that produces coking coal, which has since shut down due to the advance of Russian troops.
Following unsuccessful early attempts to capture Kyiv after their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian forces have redirected their focus towards gaining control of the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Both of these regions, partially occupied by Russian forces, were annexed by Russia in 2022, a move condemned by Ukraine and its Western allies.
In the Zaporizhzhia region, regional governor Ivan Fedorov reported that Russian shelling resulted in one fatality in a frontline settlement. Officials in the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region mentioned that Russian shelling injured three individuals in the town of Nikopol, which has frequently been a target.
In the Russian city of Taganrog, east of the Ukrainian border, acting governor of Rostov region, Yuri Slyusar, stated that Ukrainian drones had damaged two high-rise buildings, prompting the evacuation of 85 residents from one of the structures.