Russia said on Friday it had captured three villages in Ukraine鈥檚 Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions, including areas Kyiv had retaken three years ago in a surprise counter-offensive.
The Moscow military command said it had captured the villages of Pishchane and Tykhe in Kharkiv and Pryvillia in Dnipropetrovsk.
The Russian army is grinding through eastern Ukraine in costly metre-for-metre battles for small settlements, largely devastated by fighting since February 2022 and with a few inhabitants left.
Ukraine had recaptured large parts of the Kharkiv region, including Pishchane, in a swift campaign in autumn 2022, triggering a Russian military draft for the first time since World War II.
But now, the Russian forces are slowly advancing again, trying to encircle the important logistics hub of Kupiansk, Ukraine鈥檚 major gain in the 2022 counter-offensive.
The Russian offensive has killed tens of thousands and devastated large swathes of eastern Ukraine, forcing millions to flee their homes.
On Friday, 鈥榯wo adults and a 10-year-old child were killed during intense shelling of a residential area鈥� by Kyiv in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine鈥檚 Kherson region, the Moscow-installed governor said.
Kyiv meanwhile said that 鈥榦ne person was killed and 14 were wounded in Russian shelling鈥� in the Ukrainian-held part of the region.
Russia pounded Ukraine with 70 drones overnight, hours after president Vladimir Putin spoke to US counterpart Donald Trump by phone during which they agreed to hold a new summit.
The Moscow army said it had intercepted 61 Ukrainian drones overnight, mostly in Russia鈥檚 western regions and the occupied Crimea peninsula.
Zelensky will be making his third trip to Washington since Trump returned to office, following a disastrous televised shouting match in February and a make-up meeting in August, as the US leader鈥檚 stance on the war blows hot and cold.
Trump鈥檚 latest pivot came on the eve of Zelensky鈥檚 visit. He announced that he would be meeting Putin in Budapest, in a fresh bid to reach a peace deal and end Moscow鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine launched in 2022.
Ukraine had hoped Zelensky鈥檚 trip would be more about adding to the pressure on Putin, especially by getting American-made long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles that can strike deep into Russia.
But Trump, who once said he could end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours, appears set on pursuing a new diplomatic breakthrough to follow the Gaza ceasefire deal that he brokered last week.
Trump said on Thursday he had a 鈥榲ery productive鈥� call with Putin and that they would meet in the Hungarian capital within the next two weeks. He added that he hoped to have 鈥榮eparate but equal鈥� meetings with both Putin and Zelensky but did not elaborate.
