Russia claims to have captured Toretsk in new eastern Ukraine push

Russia’s defence ministry has claimed that its forces had captured the mining town of Toretsk in their latest breakthrough in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, where Ukrainian defences are creaking.

Ukrainian officials did not immediately make any comments on the Russian claim.

Russia's much larger army has conducted a sustained yearlong campaign along the eastern front, gradually loosening the short-handed and weary Ukrainian forces’ grip on its strongholds as the war approaches its fourth year later this month.

The losses coincide with uncertainty over whether the United States will keep providing vital military aid. President Donald Trump, who says he is making American interests his priority, has said he wants to end the war, although his plans for securing peace are unclear.

Russia's claimed fall of Toretsk, if confirmed, would advance its sweep across Donetsk, which has cost Moscow heavily in troops and armour but has paid dividends for the Kremlin.

In the offensive, Russian forces crush settlements with the brute force of 3,000-pound (1,300-kilogramme) glide bombs, artillery, missiles and drones, then send in infantry units to attack the exposed defenders.