Ukraine's military refutes claims of Russia taking Kharkiv Oblast village

A military spokesperson on Jan. 7 denied reports of Russia taking the village of Lozova in Kharkiv Oblast, saying there had not even been any "serious clashes" in the area at the time.

Located in Ukraine's northeast, Lozova lies near the administrative borders with Luhansk Oblast and around 30 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of the front-line town of Kupiansk.

The crowdsourced war-monitoring DeepState map showed that the Russian military recently took the village. The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the claims.

"It's hard for me to determine where the information about its capture came from. The information (coming in) from that place is contradictory. There is not even information about serious clashes there as of now," Khortytsia group of forces spokesperson Viktor Trehubov said on national television.

DeepState is an independent mapping project with close ties to the Defense Ministry. It is widely trusted as one of the most reliable sources of accurate information on territorial changes along the front line.

As Ukraine ended 2024 with an unsolved manpower shortage and setbacks in several key battles, Russian units are gaining ground incrementally in Ukraine's east.

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The Kyiv IndependentTim Zadorozhnyy