Russia claims progress in eastern Ukraine; Kyiv craves tanks

By ANDREW MELDRUM and BARRY HATTON
Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia claims its forces have captured a village in an intense and monthslong push toward the eastern Ukraine city of Bakhmut. A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said Friday that a village nine kilometers (five miles) south of Bakhmut had been “liberated.” Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment on the claim. An analyst at the Chatham House think tank in London said the Ukraine battlefield situation is “inconclusive” with a renewed Russian push expected in the spring. He told The Associated Press the war is “quite delicately poised.”