Moscow says its troops have seized Klishchiivka as they press their offensive into the eastern region of Donetsk.
Russia says it has taken control of an eastern Ukrainian village near Bakhmut, a city where fighting has raged for months.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a war update on Friday that its forces had seized Klishchiivka, a village in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
Klishchiivka, which had a pre-war population of about 400 people, was captured by ground forces assisted by artillery and air support, the ministry said.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
The village lies about 9 km (6 mi) south of Bakhmut, a strategically important city that Russian units, backed by mercenaries from the Wagner group, fought to take from Ukrainian soldiers in some of the war’s bloodiest battles.
Both the Wagner group and Russian-backed separatist forces in Donetsk, fighting under the banner of the self-proclaimed breakaway Donetsk People’s Republic, claimed before the defense ministry statement that they had taken control of Klishchiivka.
The ministry said its forces also took control of the village of Lobkove in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region.
Zaporizhia and Donetsk are two of four regions in eastern and southern Ukraine partially occupied by Russia that President Vladimir Putin moved to unilaterally annex in September.
Ukraine’s allies weigh whether to send tanks
Russia made its claims of progress on the battlefield as Ukraine’s Western allies met in Germany to discuss increasing their military support.
The talks at the Ramstein air base follow Ukrainian warnings that Russia is trying to rekindle its invasion after a series of setbacks in recent months.
The United States and Finland announced new military aid ahead of the meeting, where the main focus was on whether Germany would allow armies across Europe to send German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, addressing the meeting via video link, thanked allies for their support but said more help was urgently needed.
“We need to speed up,” Zelenskyy said. “Time must become our weapon. The Kremlin must lose.”
The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, told reporters in Madrid that some European countries were ready to send heavy tanks and that he hoped a decision to do so would be made.
Berlin has veto power over any decision to export its tanks from countries that use them, and Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government appears reluctant, fearing such a move would provoke Russia.
Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen, who reported on the meeting, said whether Germany was sending its Leopard 2 tanks was a “million-dollar question”.
“The one key thing that Ukraine really wants and it says it needs, the Leopard 2 tanks, has so far not been mentioned as a contribution by Germany,” Vaessen said.
Germany’s new defense chief, Boris Pistorius, told reporters that no decision had yet been made on the tanks.
