Ukraine’s commander-in-chief has warned of a worsening battlefield situation as troops were forced to retreat from three villages in the east.
Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi said Russian troops continued to attack “along the entire front line" of more than 620 miles, with pitched battles raging west of Avdiivka, the eastern city they took in February after a gruelling, months-long fight.
Ukraine’s troops are currently awaiting much-needed arms from a huge multi-billion dollar US aid package to reach combat zones.
“The most difficult situation is in the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove directions, where fierce battles continue," Col Gen Syrskyi said in an update posted to the Telegram, referencing two Ukrainian-held cities in the war-torn Donetsk region.
He added: “The enemy has engaged up to four brigades in these directions, is trying to develop an offensive west of Avdiivka and Marinka, making its way to Pokrovsk and Kurakhove.
“Units of the Defence Forces of Ukraine, preserving the lives and health of our defenders, moved to new frontiers west of Berdychi, Semenivka and Novomykhailivka.”
Two of these front-line villages lie less than 31 miles east of Pokrovsk, while the third is located around 20 miles by road from Kurakhove.
Some defence experts have predicted Russian forces will likely make significant tactical gains in the coming weeks as acute ammunition shortages continue to hobble Ukraine's defence efforts.
In its latest operational assessment, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said that Moscow's forces have opportunities to push forward around Avdiivka, and also threaten nearby Chasiv Yar.
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Its capture would give Russia control of a hilltop from which it can attack other key cities forming the backbone of Ukraine's eastern defences.
Despite this, the think tank assessed that neither of these efforts by Moscow are likely to cause Kyiv's defensive lines to collapse “in the near term".
US President Joe Biden last week promised that American weapons shipments would begin making their way into Ukraine within hours, as he signed into law a $95 billion (£76 million) measure - $61 billion (£48 billion) of which was allocated for Ukraine.
Elsewhere, Russian drones struck the Ukrainian Black Sea city of Mykolaiv early on Sunday, setting a hotel ablaze and damaging infrastructure, according to local officials.
Vitaliy Kim, the governor of Ukraine's southern Mykolaiv province, said that the drones “seriously damaged" a hotel in its namesake capital, sparking a fire that was later extinguished.