After several weeks of fierce fighting, Russian forces have captured the village of Ocheretyne in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, according to Russia’s defense ministry.
“Central Battlegroup units fully liberated the settlement of Ocheretyne ... and improved their tactical positions,” the ministry said in a May 5 statement.
Kyiv has yet to comment on the Russian claims, which The Epoch Times could not independently verify.
If true, the capture of Ocheretyne would bring Moscow one step closer to establishing full control over the eastern Donbas region—a longstanding Russian objective.
Russia invaded eastern Ukraine in early 2022 with the stated aim of protecting Russian speakers in Donbas and halting NATO’s further expansion eastward.
Seven months later, it effectively annexed Donbas (comprising Donetsk and Luhansk) and two other regions, which it now views as Russian territory.
Kyiv, backed by its powerful Western allies, has vowed to continue fighting numerically superior Russian forces until all lost territories are recovered.
The general staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces refrained from mentioning Ocheretyne in its nightly briefing on May 5.
Several high-profile Ukrainian war bloggers, however, appear to have acknowledged that the village is currently under Russian control.
Ocheretyne is located roughly 12 miles northwest of the town of Avdiivka, which Russian troops—backed by aircraft and artillery—captured in February.
Since then, Russian forces have continued to register gains, overrunning a string of fortified villages in Donetsk while steadily advancing northward and westward.
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu recently claimed that his forces had taken more than 200 square miles of territory in Russia’s “new regions” since the start of the year.
In official Russian parlance, the “new regions” refer to the four sizable regions annexed by Moscow—including Donetsk—in late 2022.
“Ukrainian army units are trying to hold onto the battle lines,” Gen. Shoigu said at a May 3 meeting with top commanders.
“But under the weight of our onslaught, they’ve been forced to retreat and abandon their positions.”
Along with Ocheretyne, at least three other villages in Donetsk have recently fallen to advancing Russian forces.
Last week, Russia’s defense ministry announced the capture of the village of Berdychi, which sits roughly 10 miles northeast of Avdiivka.
Berdychi is 45 miles south of Bakhmut, which Russian forces overran last summer after nine months of intense ground fighting.
Oleksandr Syrskyi, Kyiv’s top military commander, has confirmed that Ukrainian troops deployed in Donetsk have since fallen back to positions west of the frontline.
“The situation at the front has worsened,” he said on April 29, adding that the ongoing fighting was “most difficult” in areas northwest of Avdiivka.
According to Gen. Syrskyi, Ukrainian troops have retreated to safer positions west of the string of Donetsk villages recently captured by Russian forces.
“The enemy has achieved certain tactical successes in these areas but has been unable to gain any operational advantages,” he said.
On the afternoon of May 6, Russia’s defense ministry claimed that the Donetsk village of Soloviove had also been taken “as a result of successful operations.”
Russia to Rehearse Nuke Plans
In a related development, Moscow has unveiled plans to test the deployment of some of its nuclear weapons as part of a wide-ranging military exercise.“The General Staff has begun preparations for holding drills in the immediate future with missile formations of the Southern Military District,” the defense ministry said in a May 6 statement.
The drills, which include aircraft and naval forces, are meant to enhance “the preparedness of non-strategic nuclear forces with a view to achieve combat objectives,” the statement reads.
The exercises, it added, will seek to “maintain the preparedness of troops and equipment for the combat employment of non-strategic nuclear weapons to ... ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian state.”
According to the ministry, the drills are a response to what it called “provocative statements and threats by Western officials against the Russian Federation.”
The ministry did not name the Western officials in question.
But French President Emmanuel Macron has raised the idea in recent weeks of sending European troops to Ukraine to fight Russia’s ongoing invasion.
Last week, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron stated that Kyiv had the right to use Western-supplied missile systems to strike targets inside Russia.
Asked about the planned drills, a Kremlin spokesman described the deployment of Western troops to Ukraine—as proposed by Mr. Macron—as an “unprecedented move.”
“And this requires a special response,” he told reporters on May 6.
Moscow often accuses Kyiv’s Western allies of pushing the world to the brink of nuclear conflict by providing Kyiv with long-range offensive weaponry—some of which has been used to strike targets in Russia.
Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence apparatus, appeared to play down the seriousness of Russia’s planned nuclear exercises.
“We don’t see anything new here,” he told Reuters. “Nuclear blackmail is a constant practice of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s regime.”
