REUTERS, Moscow

Russian forces have taken 1,700 square km (656 square miles) of territory in Ukraine this year and are advancing on its so-called fortress belt in Donbas, Moscow’s top general said while inspecting his forces.

Russia has since its 2022 invasion been seeking to take the whole of the Donbas area in eastern Ukraine, where Kyiv’s forces have been pushed back towards a line of cities in grinding fighting.

Kyiv has also reported some gains in the deadliest war in Europe since World War Two. Top Ukrainian commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said in mid-April that Kyiv’s forces had regained control of nearly 50 square km of its territory in March.

“Since the beginning of this year, a total of 80 settlements and more than 1,700 square kilometres of territory have come under our control,” Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said in footage released by the defence ministry on Tuesday.

Reuters was unable to verify the battlefield accounts, and a spokesperson for Ukraine’s General Staff said he would not comment on the claim. Pro-Ukrainian maps indicate Russia has taken around 600 square km this year.

Gerasimov said Russia’s Southern Grouping of forces was attacking the Donetsk fortress belt comprising the cities of Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka, and that Russian forces were about 7 to 12 km (4.3 to 7.5 miles) from Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.