**ISTANBUL**
Russia claimed on Sunday that it took control of two settlements near its border with Ukraine.
According to a Defense Ministry statement, Russian forces recaptured the village of Lebedevka in its border region of Kursk, where Ukraine launched an incursion on Aug. 6, 2024.
The village is located about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) northwest of the town of Sudzha, which Kyiv claimed it captured over a week into its incursion in the region.
The statement further claimed that its forces also took control of the village of Novenke in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, situated about 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) southwest of Lebedevka and around a kilometer from the Russian border.
A day earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that forces retook control of the villages of Viktorovka, Nikolaevka, and Staraya Sorochina in the Kursk region.
Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on Russia’s claims, and independent verification of Russia’s claims is difficult due to the ongoing war, which started in February 2022.
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