Moscow's forces have been gaining ground for months on the battlefield, accelerating their push forward in the face of Kyiv's outgunned and outmanned forces.

The Russian defence ministry on Friday said that its troops had captured the village of Novovasylivka, southwest of the city of Pokrovsk in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.

It is also close to the internal border with Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, which so far has been spared ground combat but where Russia's troops are closing in.

Russia in 2022 said it was annexing the Donetsk region -- despite not having it under full control -- but has not publicly made territorial claims on Dnipropetrovsk.

Moscow's troops are also close to cutting off a major east-west supply route -- the M04/E50 highway -- that runs towards the frontline in eastern Ukraine.

According to the DeepState website, close to the Ukrainian army, Russia is just a few hundred metres away from severing the road east of Pokrovsk.

The Ukrainian military has already been forced to use different supply routes, slowing down its vital logistical operations around the most intense part of the 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) front line.