Ukrainian troops on the frontlines in the Donetsk region have called for more weapons to help fend off Russian advances in the region. View on euronews

For the past year, Russian forces have been waging an intense campaign to punch holes in Ukraine’s defenses in the Donetsk region and weaken Kyiv’s grip on the eastern parts of the country. The sustained and costly offensive has compelled Kyiv to give up a series of towns, villages and hamlets.

Its forces captured Solone village, about 7.4 miles southwest of Pokrovsk, key front in Moscow's offensive in eastern Donetsk region, says Russian Defense Ministry - Anadolu Ajansı

Russia has had battlefield momentum but its recent territorial gains have been at the expense of high personnel losses.

MOSCOW/KYIV (Reuters) -Russian forces are closing in on the strategically important eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk after capturing a string of villages to its south, and Ukraine has halted production at its only coking coal mine nearby due to the advance.

Ukraine, South Korea and the US say Kim has sent more than 11,000 troops to fight for Russia in its western Kursk region, part of which has been held by Ukraine since August. Ukraine says many North Korean soldiers have been killed and wounded. Moscow has never confirmed or denied their presence.

Ukraine's Luhansk Group of Forces spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Dmytro Zaporozhets said on Saturday that Kyiv's forces had repelled Russian small and medium-sized assaults on the grounds of the Refractory Plant.

BRATISLAVA (Reuters) -Tens of thousands of protesters thronged a central square in the Slovak capital on Friday, waving banners opposing Prime Minister Robert Fico's policy shift closer to Russia, after tensions between the government and the opposition rose.

Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) say that russian president vladimir putin has no intention of compromising in the context of peace talks,

Russia claimed on Sunday that its forces took control of another settlement in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, where Moscow continues to claim advances amid an ongoing regional offensive.