The Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that Russian troops had taken control of the village of Chigari in the Donetsk region, the latest small territorial gain for its forces advancing along that stretch of the front, the BBC's Russian Service reports.
"The units of the group of troops "Center" as a result of active actions, they liberated the village of Chigari and improved the tactical situation," said the ministry's announcement.
Since the beginning of the year, Russia has achieved a number of battlefield successes, starting with the capture of the Avdeyevka industrial center in February. But his successes seem rather modest, as the confrontation appears to be in relative equilibrium, with neither side managing to achieve a decisive turning point and both claiming heavy losses.
On Saturday, Moscow said its troops had taken control of another small village in the same area, where Ukrainian armed forces said there was heavy fighting along the front line.
The recent advance of Russian forces is generally in line with the predictions of military experts. Recently, analysts at the American Institute for the Study of War suggested that Vladimir Putin expects to win in Ukraine with the help of long-term, "creeping" offensive operations.
Putin assumes that Russia will be able to hold onto any territory it captures, and that the longer the war drags on, the better its chances of achieving its stated territorial goals, which the Kremlin is deliberately framing as vaguely as possible, experts say .
On Friday, Putin reiterated his demand that Ukraine completely withdraw its troops from the Donbas region, as well as three other regions in the south and east of the country, if it wants peace.