File Photo: A Russian serviceman stands guard at the destroyed part of the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works in Ukraine's port city of Mariupol. AFP
Russian forces are slowly but steadily gaining ground in fierce metre-for-metre skirmishes for largely devastated areas in eastern Ukraine, with few inhabitants or intact buildings left.
Moscow has captured about 0.8 per cent of Ukraine's total land area since the beginning of the year, according to Russia's Ministry of Defence.
The villages of Derylove and Maiske were seized in the Donetsk region, Moscow's army said in a statement, while the settlement of Stepove was taken in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Ukraine said an overnight Russian barrage killed one person and wounded 12 in the southeastern Kherson region, and damaged railways in the neighbouring Odesa region.
Russia said an oil pumping station in the Chuvashia republic had suspended operation after a Ukrainian drone strike deep behind the front line.
Kyiv has been targeting Russian refineries for months, calling the attacks fair retribution for Moscow's own barrages and an attempt to cut off energy revenues that fund Russia's army.
Diplomatic efforts to stop the war, now nearing its fourth year, have faltered, with US President Donald Trump recently floating the idea that Ukraine may be able to take back all of its lost land from Russia, which vowed to press on the offensive.
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