Ukraine has largely been driven out of Kurakhove, a battered but strategic town in the Donbas, Russia said. Kyiv’s forces were pressing a renewed offensive in southern Russia.

The occupying Russian forces, which have a significant advantage over the Ukrainians, are intensively fighting to encircle Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, according to Viktor Trehubov, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Chortytsia group,