MOSCOW: Russia said Monday it had captured two more east Ukrainian villages, as Moscow’s forces have continued to put pressure on the struggling Ukrainian army in several directions for weeks. The gains came after Russia claimed two other villages over the weekend. Following the weekend’s advances, Russia’s defense ministry said it took the village of Novopokrovske in the eastern Donetsk region and the village of Stepova Novoselivka in the north-east Kharkiv region. Novopokrovske lies north of a village that Moscow took on Sunday, in an area of the front where Moscow has been steadily pushing westwards since it took the industrial hub of Avdiivka in February. Moscow has announced the capture of a fresh village in Ukraine’s east almost every week this summer. Stepova Novoselivka lies south-east of the city of Kupyansk, where Russia has also been on the advance for months. Russian forces took Kupyansk at the start of their 2022 offensive but Ukrainian forces retook the city several months later. In May, Russia launched a renewed local offensive in the Kharkiv region.