MOSCOW - Russia's defence ministry said on Tuesday that its forces had taken control of the settlement of Pivdenne in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, as Moscow's slow but grinding push through the industrial Donbas area continued.

Pivdenne, which Russia calls by its Soviet-era name of Leninskoe, adjoins Toretsk, a Ukrainian stronghold and coal mining town towards which Russia began pushing in June.

In 2022, Ukrainian authorities gave Pivdenne's pre-war population as 1,404, and Toretsk's as around 30,000. Kyiv did not immediately comment on Pivdenne's status.

The towns are located close to the longtime frontline in place since 2014, when Russian-backed forces seized parts of the Donetsk region, including the city of Horlivka, 12km (7 miles) from Pivdenne.

Russia's push for Toretsk is one of the most active combat zones in the Donetsk region, with Moscow's forces also moving towards Pokrovsk, a key Ukrainian transport hub located around 70km (43 miles) west of Toretsk.

Moscow said on Sunday that its forces had taken two villages, Prohres and Yevhenivka, on the approaches to Pokrovsk.

Russia says it annexed the Donetsk region, along with three other Ukrainian provinces, in September 2022, and that Kyiv must vacate the regions as a precondition for peace talks.

Kyiv says it plans to return all four regions by force and to expel every Russian soldier from its territory.

  - Reuters