The Russian defence ministry announced on Thursday that it had taken control of the town of Maximilianivka in Donetsk.

The defence ministry said: ‘As a result of the active actions of the units of the Russian Southern Forces Group, the town of Maximilianivka in the Donetsk People’s Republic has been liberated.

The ministry added that units of the Russian Southern Forces Group had inflicted 965 casualties on Ukrainian forces over the past 24 hours, Russian news website Sputnik reported.

The Russian Defence Ministry announced yesterday that Russian forces had taken control of two cities, one in Lugansk and the other in Donetsk.

The Russian army took control of the town of Nevskoye in Lugansk and Krasny Yar in Donetsk, the ministry said.