Moscow: The Russian Ministry of Defense announced today, Thursday, that its forces have seized two more towns in eastern Ukraine.

According to National Iraqi News Agency, the Ministry stated in a press release that forces of the “East” group captured the town of Danilovka in the Dnipropetrovsk region, while forces of the “North” group seized the town of Senelnikovo in the Kharkiv region. It indicated that Ukrainian army losses in the fighting in those areas exceeded 310 soldiers, in addition to the destruction of military vehicles and an electronic warfare station.

Western intelligence reports confirm that Russia currently controls approximately one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory (around 114,500 square kilometers), with the active front line stretching for nearly 1,000 kilometers across the regions of Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson. This is part of Moscow’s effort to secure what is known as the “belt of defenses,” extending for about 50 kilometers along a strategic road between the towns of Kostyantynivka and Sloviansk.