Russia said on Saturday that its forces continued to advance in grinding battles around the key towns of Pokrovsk and Kupiansk, and had captured a tiny village in eastern Ukraine.

According to the ministry, the enemy launched targeted strikes on energy sites. As a result of the attacks, power outages were recorded in eight oblasts: Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Kyiv,

Russian forces appear to be on the brink of finally seizing the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, a symbolic victory that President Vladimir Putin has been pursuing for 21 months at an increasingly heavy cost.

Russia's daily tally of new COVID-19 cases soared to a record high of 17,347 on Monday as the Kremlin warned the pandemic was beginning to inflict a greater toll outside the capital Moscow.

At least two people have been killed in a Russian bomb attack in the municipality of Pokrovske in the south-east Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk, officials said Tuesday. Another four were injured,