Russia consolidates gains in territory seized from Ukraine

A woman runs from a house that’s on fire after shelling in Donetsk, on the territory which is under the Government of the Donetsk People’s Republic control, eastern Ukraine (Alexei Alexandrov/AP)

Russia seems increasingly unwilling to relinquish the territory it has taken in the war with Ukraine.

The rouble is now an official currency in the southern Kherson region, alongside the Ukrainian hryvnia.