ISTANBUL

Russia claimed on Friday that it took control of three more settlements in eastern Ukraine.

A statement by the Defense Ministry said its forces in the Dnipropetrovsk region captured the village of Pryvillia, about 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) southwest of the village of Verbove. Moscow claimed to have captured Verbove on Oct. 1.

Pryvillia is near the administrative border between Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.

The statement also said that forces captured the villages of Pishchane and Tykhe in the northeastern Kharkiv region. Pishchane is about 22 kilometers (13.6 miles) southeast of the city of Kupiansk, a major front in Moscow's offensive. The region's governor, Oleh Synyehubov, said this week that authorities ordered mass evacuations of civilians from 27 settlements near the frontline city due to the “worsening security situation.”

Tykhe is about 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border, and about 60 kilometers (37.2) northeast from Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv, which has been regularly targeted by Russian airstrikes during the war.

Earlier, Ukraine’s General Staff claimed its forces repelled 13 assaults by Russian troops over the past day near five settlements of the Kupiansk front, including Pishchane.

It also said that clashes took place on Thursday near the front line city of Vovchansk, just west of Tykhe, as well as near Verbove in Dnipropetrovsk.