Russian forces claim to have expanded their controlled territory in northeastern Ukraine after seizing a village near the border between the two countries. The claim emerged amidst peace efforts continuously pushed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
According to Reuters on Sunday (Jan 25, 2026), the Russian Defense Ministry stated that its troops had completed the takeover of Starytsya village in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine. The village is located not far from the town of Vovchansk, near the Russian-Ukrainian border, where Russian forces launched a cross-border offensive in May 2024.
According to Moscow, this area has become a primary focus of its military operations in recent months, aimed at expanding territorial gains despite facing resistance from Ukrainian forces.
However, the Ukrainian side has not yet confirmed the claim. The General Staff of the Ukrainian military, in its latest report on Saturday night, mentioned that Russian forces had launched six attacks in the area including Starytsya, but did not state that the village had fallen into Russian hands.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military blog DeepState, which tracks movement on both sides based on open sources, did not mention Starytsya in its Friday report. Nevertheless, the blog stated that Russian forces “continue to exert pressure in the Vovchansk area.”
In a separate statement, the Russian Defense Ministry also said its forces had launched massive overnight strikes against several Ukrainian long-range drone sites and energy facilities. Moscow did not specify the scale of the damage or the exact locations of the targets.
Over the past few months, Russian forces have been involved in a slow but steady westward movement in southeastern Ukraine, routinely announcing the capture of new villages almost every week.
Most of Russia’s progress has been recorded in the Donetsk region, which has been one of the centers of the most intense fighting since the beginning of the invasion. However, Russia is also increasing pressure on Ukrainian defenses in the Kharkiv region in the northeast and the Zaporizhzhia region in the south, parts of which are already under Russian occupation.
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