Russia’s military reported capturing a village in east Ukraine on Thursday, with forces closing in on the town of Kurakhove.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the army captured the village of Voznesenka in the Donetsk region.
The town had a population of about 20,000 before the war began in 2022, Agence France-Presse reported.
Russia also reported damaging Ukrainian airfields and energy facilities and shooting down 78 drones, according to state news agency RIA.
Ukraine’s military said it shot down 21 of 59 Russian drones launched in an overnight attack.
Later Thursday evening, Russian drones struck a residential building and energy installations in and close to Odesa, a Ukrainian port city on the Black Sea. The attack killed at least one person, injured eight and damaged a boiler plant used for heating, according to the regional governor.
"Houses, a church and cars have been damaged," Odesa Regional Governor Oleh Kiper said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
Emergency crews were responding to the aftermath of what Kiper called a "mass attack."
Ukraine had reported a massive aerial attack on Kyiv and other locations early Wednesday involving ballistic and cruise missiles and dozens of drones.
Ukraine's air force said its units shot down four missiles and 37 drones launched by Russia over eight regions.
"It is important that our forces have the means to defend the country from Russian terror," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after attack.
In his Wednesday address, Zelenskyy praised the country’s "air defense warriors."
"Every night, every day, they shoot down Russian ‘Shahed’ drones and missiles," he said. "This morning, they intercepted Russian ballistics. This is significant. Every such success means saving the lives of our people."
Late on Wednesday, a small Russian assault group briefly broke through to the outskirts of Ukraine's northeastern city of Kupiansk for the first time since the Kremlin's forces fled in September 2022, officials said on Thursday.
Moscow's forces, including soldiers disguised as Ukrainian troops, attacked in four waves on Wednesday but were driven off from the city, Ukraine's general staff said.
Ukraine has been appealing to allies to supply more air defense systems to protect against Russian attacks, and Zelenskyy said the country was grateful "to all our partners who help us with anti-missiles and air defense systems."
"The strategic goal is to reach a practical level of cooperation with our partners that will enable us to produce the air defense systems and anti-missiles we need here in Ukraine," he said.
He added Ukraine needs to "finally push Russia towards making a fair peace."
Russia's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva told reporters on Thursday that Russia is open to negotiations to end the war if they're initiated by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
