Russia’s Defence Ministry announced the capture of Kolodyazi (Donetsk region) and Vorone (Dnipropetrovsk region) on August 16, 2025.
The advance came just hours after talks between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Alaska, focused on Ukraine and global security.
The gains add to Russia’s recent territorial push in eastern Ukraine, as Kyiv continues to rely on Western support.
Russia’s military on Wednesday announced the capture of two frontline villages close to Dobropillia, an eastern Ukrainian town that remains under Kyiv’s control but faces relentless bombardment.
According to a statement from Moscow’s Defense Ministry, its forces had “liberated” the settlements of Suvorovo and Nikanorivka in the Donetsk region, one of four Ukrainian territories Russia claims to have annexed. Both villages lie roughly 15 kilometers from Dobropillia, a once-thriving coal-mining town now emptied of much of its population.
The advance represents Russia’s most significant territorial gain in a single day in more than a year, according to an analysis by the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War cited by AFP. The developments come just ahead of a high-profile summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, underscoring the conflict’s continued geopolitical weight.
Ukrainian authorities had already ordered the evacuation of families with children from Dobropillia last month amid mounting Russian assaults. The town, which before the war was home to about 28,000 people, is now under constant artillery and drone strikes, leaving those who remain in conditions of extreme vulnerability.
Moscow has pressed forward across Donetsk in recent weeks, piercing Ukrainian defenses while intensifying drone warfare and shelling of civilian areas. Kyiv, meanwhile, continues to brace for deeper incursions, as Russia shifts momentum on the battlefield despite years of grinding stalemate.
The fall of Suvorovo and Nikanorivka highlights the continued fragility of Ukrainian positions in the industrial heartland, where many towns once tied to coal and steel have become frontlines in Europe’s bloodiest war in decades.
