Over 50 per cent of the Donetsk region has now been captured by Vladimir Putin’s forces, according to an update early this morning from a Russia-backed official in Ukraine’s east.
“A little more than 50 per cent of the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic has been liberated,” the Russia-installed administrator handling the occupied parts of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, told Russian news agency RIA.
Officials in Kyiv have not confirmed the claims by the Russia-backed official.
Eastern Ukraine has seen some of the fiercest fighting in the war and many of its major towns have been turned into battered ruins.
The Kremlin is now focusing its campaign on capturing Bakhmut in Donetsk, in an offensive seen by experts as carrying more symbolic than operational value for Mr Putin.
The British defence ministry had warned last week that Russia would try to encircle the city.
Yesterday Russia launched shells at Bakhmut and Avdiivka, Ukraine’s military said. “Near Bakhmut, the occupiers rained mortar and artillery fire on nearly 20 settlements,” Kyiv’s top military command said.
