RUSSIAN forces have overrun two front-line villages in the eastern Donetsk region, according to a Ukrainian army sergeant.

Separately, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) attacked a number of electricity substations in Russia’s Kursk region,causing power cuts, according to a statement by the General Staff. 

The claim of responsibility came after Russia said it had thwarted a nighttime Ukrainian drone attack.

“They pressed non-stop” to capture Vovche and Prohres, Sergeant Oleh Chaus of Ukraine’s 47th Separate Mechanised Brigade told Radio Svaboda. “They sent in a large number of troops, which had not previously been used.”

Russia’s Defence Ministry had already announced the conquest of the villages in recent days, but the Ukrainian General Staff had made no official comment until now.

The villages lie about 20 miles north-west of Avdiivka, a Donetsk city that the Russian army seized in February. 

Russia’s military superiority has repeatedly forced Ukrainian troops to retreat to avoid being captured or killed.

Oleksandr Shyrshyn, the 47th brigade’s deputy battalion commander, confirmed to local media that the villages had been taken. He blamed inadequacies in troop training, officers’ leadership, motivation and weapons for the setbacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the situation in the Donetsk region as “extremely challenging” on Sunday night.

Meanwhile, Russian air defences thwarted an overnight barrage of 39 Ukrainian drones over five of the country’s regions, Russian authorities said on Monday. Ukraine said that its forces had carried out strikes in the Kursk region.

The Defence Ministry in Moscow said the drones had been “intercepted and destroyed” in regions bordering Ukraine as well as in the Leningrad region, roughly 430 miles north of the Ukrainian border. 

A power station, a bridge and an electricity line were damaged by falling drone debris, the ministry added.