KYIV/ MOSCOW — The Ukrainian army said Monday Russian strikes targeted two recruitment centres in separate cities, wounding four people, in the latest announced attack on the military facilities.

 

The Russian drone attacks on recruitment centres appear to be the latest of a new trend following similar strikes over the weekend and last week.

 

The army said on social media a strike on a recruitment centre in Kharkiv wounded three people while a separate drone attack on a centre in Zaporizhzhia further south left one wounded.

 

"These strikes are part of a comprehensive enemy operation aimed at disrupting mobilisation in Ukraine," Ukraine's Centre for Strategic Communications, a government-funded body, wrote on social media.

 

It added that Russia had attacked recruitment centres last week in the cities of Kremenchuk, Kryvyi Rig, and Poltava.

 

Mobilisation centres across Ukraine have been hit before since Russia invaded in 2022, but mainly through apparent sabotage attacks, carried out on the ground.

 

Military recruitment is a deeply divisive issue in Ukraine, and dozens of men have died fleeing the country to evade conscription.

 

Meanwhile Russia said Monday it has captured a settlement in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, the first village in the central region claimed to have come under the control of Russian troops.

 

The Russian defence ministry said its forces captured Dachne in Dnipropetrovsk region, where Moscow has been vying to gain a foothold for the first time during its over three-year offensive.

 

Dnipropetrovsk, and in particular its capital city of Dnipro, has been under persistent Russian strikes since Moscow launched the offensive in February 2022.

 

It is an important mining and industrial hub for Ukraine, and deeper Russian advances into the region could have a serious impact on Kyiv's struggling military and economy.

 

Earlier Monday, the Ukrainian army's general staff said its troops had "repelled" Russian attacks the day before "in the vicinity" of the village.

 

Dnipropetrovsk is not one of the five Ukrainian regions , Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea , that Moscow has publicly claimed as Russian territory.

 

Russia used Dnipro as a testing ground for its "experimental" Oreshnik missile in late 2024, claiming to have struck an aeronautics production facility.