Russia on Sunday claimed its troops had captured Velyka Novosilka, a strategically important town in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine. The statement could not be independently verified, and Ukraine’s 110th Separate Mechanized Brigade said its troops had only strategically withdrawn from certain parts of Velyka Novosilka to avoid encirclement. “This does not mean that we have completely left the city, the fighting in Velyka Novosilka continues. All actions are aimed at minimising our own losses and maximum damage to the enemy.” The brigade said the withdrawal would make it topographically difficult for Russians to advance by making the river an obstacle. “The enemy … will have no peace, any movement is cut off by shells and drones.”

Russia also claimed it troops had taken control of the settlement of Zelene in Donetsk region. There was no independent confirmation. Zelene lies south of Pokrovsk where Russia has incurred mass casualties in a grinding campaign against Ukrainian defenders. In its latest Russia-Ukraine war assessment, the Institute for the Study of War said: “Russian forces recently advanced near Toretsk, Pokrovsk, Kurakhove, and Velyka Novosilka.”

Ukraine’s military said it destroyed 200 Shahed drones in an attack on warehouses in the Oryol region of Russia. “Concrete structures were hit, where thermobaric warheads, which are used to equip drones, were stored. There is information about a strong secondary detonation.”

Ukraine on Sunday claimed a further successful drone strike on the Ryazan oil refinery south-east of Moscow. It was the second attack on the same site in less that two weeks. Kyiv said the refinery is one of the four largest in Russia and is used by Moscow’s air force. “Explosions and a fire were recorded in the targeted area,” it said. The Russian regional governor in Ryazan – Pavel Malkov – said Russian air defence had “destroyed” drones over the region and that authorities were assessing the damage. Russian officials routinely falsely claim that all attacking drones were destroyed and any damage was only caused by falling debris.

An undersea fibre optic cable between Latvia and Sweden was damaged on Sunday, likely as a result of external influence, Latvia said, prompting Nato to deploy patrol ships to the area and triggering a sabotage investigation by Swedish authorities. Nato was coordinating military ships and aircraft under its recently deployed mission, dubbed Baltic Sentry. The effort follows a string of incidents in which power cables, telecom links and gas pipelines have been damaged in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.