MOSCOW   -  Russia on Thursday said it had captured another village in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, where its troops have made a series of advances in recent months.  Russia has since this summer regularly announced the capture of new villages in eastern Ukraine.   The defence ministry said its forces had “liberated the village of Georgievka,” around 30 kilometres (20 miles) west of Donetsk city, the regional capital under Russian control.  The village lies between Marinka, which fell to Russian forces at the end of last year and Ukrainian-controlled Kurakhove, in an area of the front that has not moved much in weeks.  It also lies south of the town of Krasnogorivka, which Moscow said it captured last week.  Further north in the Donetsk region, Russia has been pressing to capture the town of Pokrovsk, advancing fast in the area since the summer.  The Russian advance in the east comes as Kyiv has for more than a month controlled swathes of Russia’s Kursk region.  Ukraine said Thursday that Russian shelling killed two civilians in the Sumy region, which borders the Kursk region.

Germany plans extra 400 million euros military aid to Ukraine

Germany is planning almost 400 million euros ($445 million) in extra military aid for Ukraine this year despite a row over budgetary constraints, according to a finance ministry document seen by AFP Thursday. Berlin has been the second-largest contributor of military aid to Ukraine after Washington and had already earmarked around 7.5 billion euros for Kyiv in 2024. However, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been facing domestic pressure over the issue, with parties opposed to Berlin’s support for Kyiv making major gains at key regional elections in early September. The additional funds are needed to “fulfil the German government’s support commitments to the Ukrainian armed forces”, the letter to the parliamentary budget committee said. Advances by Russian forces in Ukraine have led to “heavy material losses” on the battlefield and there is a “serious risk... that Ukraine will succumb in its defence struggle without a significant increase in support”, it said.

The letter asks for the funds to be made available to provide drones and air defence equipment, among other things, “without delay” so that they can “have an impact on the battlefield in Ukraine during the remainder of 2024”.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky made a fresh appeal earlier this month for more weapons to counter the threat from advancing Russian forces in the east of the country and Moscow’s devastating missile strikes.

Berlin plans to cut back its budget for Ukraine aid next year to around 4.4 billion euros as it looks to make savings demanded by liberal Finance Minister Christian Lindner, according to draft budget documents.

However, the government has insisted it is “fully committed” to supporting Ukraine “for as long as necessary”.