 Russia says seized key heights near Kpyansk in East Ukraine. Russia said it captured several strategic heights near Kpyansk, an eastern Ukrainian city where Moscow's troops stepped up pressure in August, according to agents Franz Preysa. Ukraine launched a counter-offensive against Russian positions in the south in June, but Russia responded by trying to take back territory in the northeast. In the direction of Kpyansk, units of the Western Group of Forces improved the tactical position by capturing enemy strongholds and key heights. The Russian Defense Ministry said it also claimed Ukrainian forces had sustained significant losses. Kpyansk and territory nearby in the Kharkiv region were retaken by key of last September, but Moscow is pushing back. Ukrainian officials ordered vulnerable people to evacuate from several villages near Kpyansk, citing an uptick in Russian shelling. The Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged that fighting in the south and east of Ukraine was difficult. It said Ukrainian military command was staging neat grinder assaults without providing sufficient cover for their troops.