Russia's Defence Ministry on Saturday said its forces took control of two more settlements in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, the latest in a series of gains it has reported in its steady advance westward.
According to the ministry's statement, Russian forces were now in control of Petropavlivka, a village between the towns of Pokrovsk and Kurakhove, focal points in fighting in recent months in the area.
The statement also noted the capture of Vremivka, one of a cluster of small towns further south in the Donetsk region.
It also said Russian forces hit Ukraine's military facilities with high-precision weapons in response to an Ukrainian attack on Russia's southern Belgorod region with U.S.-made ATACMS missiles.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian military statements made no mention of either of the two villages changing hands, but referred to heavy fighting near the key city of Pokrovsk.
The spokesperson for the Ukrainian military's Khortytsya group of forces dismissed for the second day running any notion that Russian forces had entered Pokrovsk.
"There have been no developments in Pokrovsk, things are stable," Viktor Trehubov told national television. "The enemy is not there."
The city is a transport hub and site of Ukraine's only coking coal pit, where work was suspended this week.
Russia's military, after failing to advance on the capital Kyiv in the weeks following its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, has since focused its efforts of capturing all of the Donbas - made up of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
It now holds about 20% of Ukraine's territory.
The Ukrainian military's General Staff, in a late night report, said Russian forces trying to pierce Ukrainian defences had launched 84 attacks in the Pokrovsk sector.
Fourteen battles were still raging in the area.
The report listed a series of villages in the sector which it said had come under Russian attack - including three which Russia's military said it secured in the past week and another where Russia said it took control last month.
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