MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian forces have taken control of the strategic coal-mining city of Toretsk in eastern Ukraine, Russia's Defence Ministry said on Friday. Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield report and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

Three people, including a minor, were killed in a Ukrainian drone attack that hit a car in Logachyovka village in the Russian border region of Belgorod. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said a man, an 18-year-old woman and 14-year-old girl, all passengers, died in the attack.

Days after Ukrainian troops seized part of Russia’s Kursk region in a surprise attack, President Vladimir Putin told defense officials their “main objective” was to repel the invasion. Six months later,