Russia and Ukraine report gains as some Ukrainians flee strategic city

FILE PHOTO: A Ukrainian serviceman patrols a street next to buildings, damaged during recent fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces in controlled by Ukrainian army the town of Sudzha, Kursk region, Russia August 16, 2024. REUTERS/Yan Dobronosov/File Photo

KYIV (Reuters) -Russia and Ukraine both reported new battlefield gains on Thursday, with Kyiv hailing the capture of another village on Russian soil but hundreds of Ukrainians fleeing the eastern city of Pokrovsk as Russian forces advance on it.

Visiting the border area from where his troops entered the Kursk region in western Russia on Aug. 6, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced the seizure of a new village that he did not name, and said the incursion had helped reduce Russian shelling of the northeastern Sumy region.