Russia's offensive in eastern Ukraine was gaining speed and seizing ground Wednesday as European leaders were to hold online talks with US President Donald Trump ahead of his Alaska summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin.

With the world's eyes on the looming Alaska summit, Russia has made rapid advances this week in a narrow but important section of the front line in Ukraine.

According to an AFP analysis of battlefield data from the US-based Institute for the Study of War, Russian forces made their biggest 24-hour advance into Ukraine in more than a year on Tuesday.

The head of the Donetsk region on Wednesday ordered civilians with children to evacuate from towns and villages under threat.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky flew to Berlin and met Chancellor Friedrich Merz before both

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