Russia claims taking control of Vodiane settlement in Ukraine

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russia claimed on Friday that the Ukrainian settlement of Vodiane in the Donetsk region went under its control.

The village is situated within the Avdiivka district, which holds significant strategic importance in terms of transportation infrastructure, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Meanwhile, from March 31 to April 5, in retaliation for attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, the armed forces carried out 39 group strikes with high-precision long-range ground- and air-based weapons and drones at Ukraine's energy and military industry facilities, air defense systems, arsenals, fuel bases, temporary locations of Ukrainian units and foreign mercenaries, the ministry said.

"The goals of the strikes have been achieved. All assigned targets were hit," it said.

The ministry said that Ukraine's three Su-25, two Su-27 and one MiG-29 fighter jets, five launchers of S-300 air defense systems, five aviation guided bombs Hammer and JDAM, 91 rockets from HIMARS, Vampire and Uragan multiple rocket launchers as well as 1,119 drones were also shot down during the week.