Units of Russia’s East force grouping have taken control of the village of Varvarovka in Zaporozhskaya Region, according to a Russian Defense Ministry report on the progress of the military operation in Ukraine released on December 14.

Varvarovka is a small rural settlement in the Gulyaypolsky district, located on the right bank of the Gaychur River, about 2.5 kilometers north of the town of Gulyaypole. The most recent census data cited in open sources, dating back to 2001, put the village’s population at just over 350 residents.

The same Defense Ministry briefing states that East units also struck Ukrainian personnel and military equipment in several areas across two regions. These included Andreevka and Gavrilovka in Dnepropetrovsky region, as well as Vozdvizhevka, Gulyaypole, Kosovtsevo, Lyubitskoye, and Ternovatoye in Zaporozhsky region.

In addition, Russian forces reportedly carried out effective strikes against fuel depots and bases used by Ukrainian troops and foreign fighters across 142 different locations.

Earlier, on Friday, December 12, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that Russian troops had taken eight settlements over the course of a single week. The list included the town of Seversk, the villages of Chervonoye and Rovnoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Liman, Kurilovka, and Kucherovka in Kharkovsky region, Ostapovskoye in Dnepropetrovsky region, and Novodanilovka in Zaporozhsky region.

One day before that announcement, Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov briefed President Vladimir Putin on the capture of Seversk. The settlement was described as strategically significant for the Ukrainian army, as it had served as a shield for the road network leading toward Liman and Slavyansk.