Russia captures 2 Ukrainian villages

MOSCOW, Nov 06 (AFP): Russia said Wednesday it had captured two Ukrainian villages near the town of Kurakhove, in southeast Ukraine, where Moscow has quickly advanced since seizing the city of Vugledar last month.

Moscow's forces took the villages of Maksymivka and Antonivka, both south of Kurakhove, where Russia has been concentrating its offensive, the Russian defence ministry said in a statement on social media.

Ukrainian forces have captured more than 700 Russian soldiers since they launched a suprise offensive into Moscow's border region of Kursk in August, Kyiv said on Wednesday.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said one of the objectives of the shock, cross-border attack was to replenish Ukraine's stocks of war prisoners, to exchange for captured Ukrainian troops.

Oleksandr Syrsky, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, wrote in a social media post that his troops had captured 717 Russian troops in all.

Moscow and Kyiv, despite being at war for nearly three years, still coordinate on the exchange of prisoners of war and have held dozens of swaps since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February, 2022.