On April 28, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that its forces had taken control of another village in eastern Ukraine.
"As a result of active operations, the 'Center' unit liberated the village of Novobakhmutivka in the Donetsk People's Republic," the Russian Defense Ministry said at a daily briefing from the battlefield.
The village is about 10 kilometers north of Avdiyevka, which Russian forces captured in February after one of the bloodiest battles in the two-year conflict.
Moscow announced a day earlier that its troops around Donetsk managed to penetrate "deep" into Ukrainian defense lines.
Ukrainian military leaders have admitted earlier that Russia has had some "tactical successes" in the area and that its positions have deteriorated.
The head of Ukrainian intelligence at the Ministry of Defense, Kirill Budanov, said this month that the situation on the battlefield for Ukraine is likely to worsen from mid-May to early June.
Kiev is waiting for the aid of billions of dollars of American weapons, which it hopes will stabilize the situation on the major front lines.
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