Moscow: Russian shelling in northern Ukraine resulted in the deaths of four people in two villages in the Sumy region near the Russian border. Additionally, a woman lost her life in a fresh assault on the devastated eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, according to local officials. The local administration in Sumy reported three fatalities due to mortar fire in the village of Znov-Novohorodske, while another person was killed in a separate village to the southeast. Reuters could not independently verify the reports, but officials in the Sumy region consistently report daily attacks from Russian forces.

In Avdiivka, a town under Ukrainian control near the front line, a woman succumbed to serious injuries inflicted during mid-afternoon shelling, as reported by public broadcaster Suspilne. Avdiivka, briefly seized by pro-Russian forces in 2014 before being recaptured by Ukrainian troops, has endured ongoing assaults, and virtually none of its buildings remains intact. The General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces, in its evening report, noted that Ukrainian forces successfully repelled 13 Russian attacks in and around Avdiivka within the past 24 hours. Military officials have recently highlighted increased Russian military activity along the 1,000-km-long front line through eastern and southern Ukraine.

On the southern front, Ukrainian military spokesperson Natalia Humeniuk stated that Ukrainian forces continue to expand their foothold on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River despite intensified Russian attacks. After advancing through the Kherson region following the February 2022 invasion, Russian forces abandoned the region's main town and the Dnipro's west bank by the end of the year.

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