"A number of counterattacks by Ukrainian forces have had some success," a spokesman for troops in the area, Viktor Tregubov, said on Ukrainian television. "We can already talk about the liberation of the village of Pishchane."

The announcement came just over a month after Russia said it took Pishchane, around eight kilometres (five miles) southwest of Pokrovsk.

The village is home to a key mine that belongs to Ukraine's main steelmaker Metinvest.

Tregubov said that "there has been a certain turnaround in the Pokrovsk sector".

He acknowledged that it was not the first time Pishchane has changed hands but believed that "this time... it looks a little more serious".

Zelensky said this week that the military situation around Pokrovsk had "improved", but did not provide details.

The Pishchane switch comes as Moscow has claimed daily small advances and Ukraine and Europe brace for a summit between Russian and US leaders Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

A soldier near Pokrovsk told AFP that Ukrainian forces had managed to push back Russian forces in some areas near the embattled city.

"Our pilots and assault groups... managed to restrain this onslaught and this enemy attack and stop them and prevent them from advancing further," a 44-year-old commander in the Skala battalion fighting in the area, who used the call sign "Drone", told AFP reporters.

"And even recapture those positions they had occupied," he said.

He said Russian soldiers had not fully occupied Pishchane, just "part" of it.

He agreed with Zelensky that the situation for Ukrainian forces had "probably" improved.

"Because they (the Russians) were trying to enter Pokrovsk from another direction, but we restrained them there too."