Russia has made gains in Ukraine’s Donetsk region before President Vladimir Putin’s high-stakes meeting with his United States counterpart Donald Trump in Alaska, raising fears that it may have increased its leverage amid talks aimed at ending the war.

In advance of Friday’s summit in Anchorage , Moscow’s army pounded away at Ukraine’s industrial heartland, attempting to seize the flashpoint town of Pokrovsk, a key highway and rail junction in eastern Donetsk, after repeated attempts to breach its defensive line during the week.

As Putin and Trump prepared to meet, battlefield analysis site DeepState said that Pokrovsk was partially encircled. In recent days, Russian forces had reportedly seized the village of Yablunivka and the settlement of Oleksandrohrad – both in Donetsk.

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