Russian Forces Capture Key Frontline Town in Donetsk, Says Defense Ministry

Officials in Kyiv say fighting still remains underway in the flashpoint town of Kurakhove.

A soldier of the 13th Khartiia Brigade in a trench during a snowstorm in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Dec. 6, 2024. Nikoletta Stoyanova/Getty Images

Russia’s defense ministry has claimed that its forces have definitively captured the frontline town of Kurakhove in the eastern Donetsk region.

“Units of the Southern Battlegroup have completely liberated the town of Kurakhove, the largest settlement in southwestern Donbas,” the ministry said in a Jan. 6 statement posted on the Telegram messaging platform.