Russia claims it has captured another town in eastern Ukraine but Kyiv doesn’t confirm the loss

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian troops in eastern Ukraine have captured the stronghold of Kurakhove after a monthslong battle, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed Monday, adding the wrecked town to the Kremlin’s list of conquests in the partially occupied Donetsk region during the almost three-year war.

The claim, which drew no response from Ukrainian authorities, came a day after the Russian Defense Ministry said Ukrainian forces had launched a new thrust in Russia’s Kursk border region.

The inauguration in two weeks’ time of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has brought a new element of uncertainty into the conflict and triggered an apparent effort by both sides to establish battlefield gains before any possible peace talks are held.

Trump hasn’t detailed his plans for accomplishing his goal of ending the fighting, but his presence in the White House is likely to significantly affect how the war plays out.

Kurakhove is a key stronghold for the Ukrainian army on the eastern front line. It has an industrial zone, a thermal power plant and a reservoir. It also sits on a highway running between eastern and southern Ukraine.

In November, The Associated Press reported from the town that some 7,000-10,000 people likely remained in Kurakhove. Its prewar population was about twice that. The town has been under relentless attacks from artillery, multiple rocket launchers, powerful guided bombs and drones that have shattered buildings.

Ukrainian officials usually comment on major battlefield defeats only days after Russia announces them.

Russia has this year been driving westward in a slow and costly effort to capture all of Donetsk. Ukraine is short of troops on the front lines and is straining to hold back the bigger Russian army.

Russian forces are trying to close in on nearby Pokrovsk, which is a key road junction and a rail distribution center, furnishing supplies to a broad span of the Ukrainian front line.

In 2022, Moscow illegally annexed the Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk regions, which make up the Donbas industrial area, together with southeastern provinces of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. But Russian forces don’t fully control any of the four.

Ukraine is keen to get new Western military aid delivered quickly, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday he hoped more would be pledged later this week at a meeting with Western partners in Germany.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday that Ukraine launched a fresh offensive in the Kursk region, where military analysts estimate Kyiv has recently lost 40% of what its forces captured in a lightning insurgency five months ago.

Russian officials claimed their forces pushed back the Ukrainian push, but some reports from Russian military bloggers indicated that Moscow’s forces faced significant pressure.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Illia Novikov, The Associated Press