A fierce battle raged for control of the town of Vugledar, southwest of Donetsk, as the two sides locked in along the southern front.
Both Russia and Ukraine claimed success in the small administrative centre of apartment blocks surrounded by flat fields, a short distance from the strategic prize of the village of Pavlivka.
“The encirclement and subsequent liberation of this city solves many problems,” said Denis Pushilin, the Moscow-appointed leader of the Donetsk region.
“Soon, Vugledar may become a new, very important success for us,” he was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
But Kyiv said the town, which had a pre-invasion population of around 15,000 people, remained contested.
“There is fierce combat there,” Ukrainian military spokesman Sergiy Cherevaty told local media.
Moscow’s push for Vugledar is part of its effort to seize control of the entire Donetsk region, which it has already declared a part of Russia.
Ukraine said this week that Russian troops had stepped up their attacks in the east, particularly on Vugledar and Bakhmut.
