MOSCOW, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Russian forces have captured the Grabovskoye settlement in Ukraine's Sumy region, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday.
The ministry said units of the "North" group of forces are advancing to establish a security buffer in the border areas of Ukraine's Sumy and Kharkiv regions.
It added that Russian forces struck Ukrainian military-industrial facilities, military airfield infrastructure, drone production and assembly workshops, a drone operator training center, and temporary deployment sites of Ukrainian forces and foreign mercenaries across 148 locations.
Russian air defense systems shot down three guided aerial bombs, three U.S.-made HIMARS rockets and 356 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles over the past day, the ministry said. ■
