Russia captures 5 villages in Ukraine’s northeast, forces 1,700 to flee

Moscow's forces have captured five villages as part of a renewed ground assault in Ukraine’s northeast, the Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday.

Moscow’s forces have captured five villages as part of a renewed ground assault in Ukraine’s northeast, the Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday.

Ukrainian journalists reported Friday that Russian troops took the villages of Borysivka, Ohirtseve, Pylna and Strilecha, all of which lie in a militarily contested “gray zone” on the border of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and Russia.

Russian officials said they had also captured another village, Pletenivka, in a renewed attack on the region that Ukrainian authorities said forced more than 1,700 civilians to flee.

Russia continued to pummel the nearby city of Vovchansk with airstrikes and grad rockets on Saturday as police and volunteers raced to evacuate residents.

Associated Press journalists who accompanied an evacuation team described empty streets with multiple buildings destroyed and others on fire. The road was littered with newly made craters and the city was covered in dust and shrapnel with the smell of gunpowder heavy in the air.

Mushroom clouds of smoke rose across the skyline as Russian jets conducted multiple airstrikes. During the short time the team were on the ground, they witnessed nine air attacks.

Authorities helped a group of around 20 people onto a bus to take them to a nearby village to safety. Police said they evacuated 900 people from the city on Friday.

Artillery, mortar, and aerial bombardments hit more than 30 different towns and villages on Saturday, killing at least three people and injuring five others, said Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov.