UPDATE - Russia claims control of 2 settlements in Ukraine’s Donetsk region

UPDATE WITH NEW DEVELOPMENT, CHANGE IN HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE

By Alperen Aktas and Elena Teslova

ISTANBUL / MOSCOW (AA) - The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Friday that its forces had captured the settlements of Druzhba and Dzerzhinsk in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, marking further advances in the ongoing conflict.

According to the ministry’s statement, Dzerzhinsk was taken following military operations by units of the Tsentr (Center) group of forces. The capture of Druzhba was also attributed to the same grouping.

The ministry claimed that Russian forces continued their offensive, making rapid advances in certain areas.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that Russia had launched an air attack using 112 drones overnight, claiming that 81 of them were intercepted.

Some of the drones reached their targets in the cities of Sumy as well as the Kyiv and Khmelnytsky regions, it added.