Russia has achieved a significant advancement in Ukraine as Vladimir Putin seeks to capture as much territory as possible before the Alaska summit with US President Donald Trump on Friday. This meeting could potentially bring an end to the three-year-long conflict.

Moscow has reportedly already seized more than 10 kilometres (six miles) of land in its lightning offensive towards the Dnipro. 

The Ukrainian military reports that approximately 110,000 Russian troops are moving towards Pokrov, a town located west of the river. This maneuver may represent a pivotal success for Vladimir Putin.

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Telegram, “Our units are involved in intense defensive operations against superior enemy forces.” They added that the situation is challenging and fluid, but the Defence Forces are implementing all necessary actions to identify and dismantle enemy contingents.

Kyiv has redirected special forces to resist the Russian advancement on the ground, aiming to prevent Putin’s troops from making further progress just ahead of the anticipated talks with Donald Trump in Alaska this Friday.

The advances occurred mere days before Trump’s scheduled meeting with Russian leader Putin in Alaska, marking the first such encounter between a sitting US president and a Russian leader since 2021.

The Ukrainian military confirmed that it was engaged in intense confrontations with Russian forces trying to breach its defences. They described the situation as challenging and dynamic in their statement.

A map published by Ukrainian battlefield monitor DeepState, which has close ties with Ukraine’s military, showed Russia had advanced around 10 kilometres (six miles) over around two days, deep into a narrow section of the eastern front line.

The corridor – now apparently under Russian control – threatens the town of Dobropillia, a mining hub that civilians are fleeing and that has come under Russian drone attacks.

It also further isolates the destroyed town of Kostiantynivka, one of the last large urban areas in the Donetsk region still held by Ukraine. 

The Ukrainian military reported that defenders were holding off advancing troops moving on Dobropol and Pokrov.

‘Our units are waging heavy defensive battles against superior enemy forces. Thus, in the Pokrov direction alone, the invaders have concentrated groups numbering over 110 thousand personnel,’ the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine wrote on Telegram.

‘Some of the groups have already been destroyed, the rest are in the process of being destroyed,’ the statement added.

‘The situation is difficult and dynamic, but the Defense Forces are taking all necessary measures to detect and destroy enemy groups […] Additional forces and means have been allocated to strengthen the stability of the defense. Measures have been planned to block enemy groups in a certain area.’

‘The situation is quite chaotic, as the enemy, having found gaps in the defence, is infiltrating deeper, trying to quickly consolidate and accumulate forces for further advancement,’ DeepState said on its Telegram channel. 

The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based observatory, said Russia was sending small sabotage groups forwards.

It said it was ‘premature’ to call the Russian advances in around Dobropillia ‘an operational-level breakthrough’.

The military’s Operational-Tactical Group Donetsk, which oversees parts of the front in the industrial region, also said Russia was probing Ukrainian lines with small sabotage groups, describing battles as ‘complex, unpleasant and dynamic’.

Trump has described his summit with Putin on Friday as a chance to check the Russian leader’s ideas for ending the war. 

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky warned ahead of the talks that Moscow was laying the groundwork for further attacks, after Trump said on Monday that both sides would have to swap territory for peace.

European leaders have meanwhile sought to ensure respect for Kyiv’s interests.

‘We see that the Russian army is not preparing to end the war. On the contrary, they are making movements that indicate preparations for new offensive operations,’ Zelensky said in a statement on social media.

Ukraine reported in late June that Russia had amassed 110,000 troops near Pokrovsk as part of its efforts to take over the strategic city in eastern Ukraine. 

Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022, has made costly but incremental gains across the sprawling front in recent months and claims to have annexed four Ukrainian regions while still fighting to control them.

Ukrainian police meanwhile said that Russian attacks in the past hours had killed three people and wounded 12 others, including a child.

Ukraine’s military said it had sent in reserves near the cities of Pokrovsk and Dobropillia to block advances by small groups of Russian troops.

In a statement, the General Staff said some of the groups attempting to bypass Ukraine’s defensive lines in the area had already been destroyed, and that others were being engaged by Ukrainian forces.

Dobropillia is 94 kilometres (58 miles) northwest of Russian-occupied Donetsk, and around 22 kilometers (14 miles) north of Pokrovsk. 

Earlier today, the Kyiv Independent reported that the Russian military is employing infiltration tactics, by sending small groups of soldiers beyond the first line of defense, often incurring significant losses.

‘A number of small Russian groups are constantly putting pressure on Ukrainian positions and attempting to bypass the first line of defense,’ said Victor Tregubov, spokesperson of the Dnipro group of forces.

‘It is important to understand that this does not mean Russian forces have taken control of the territory,’ the spokesperson added. 

This is a breaking news story. More to follow.