Moscow/Kiev, May 16 (Reporter) Russian troops have taken control of the village of Volnoye Pole in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Moscow's Defence Ministry claimed on Friday, as intense fighting continued along multiple frontlines. “Units of the Vostok group of forces continued to advance into the depth of the enemy's defences and took control of the village of Volnoye Pole in the Donetsk People's Republic,” the ministry said in a statement, according to Sputnik. The advance is the latest in a series of Russian operations in the Donetsk area, which remains a focal point of Moscow’s campaign in eastern Ukraine. Donetsk, along with Luhansk, was declared part of Russian territory in 2022 after Moscow inflicted significant losses upon the Ukrainian military. Though internationally not recognised to be part of Russia, Kiev’s ongoing military resistance has been unable to tackle Russian advances in Donetsk. In a broader update, Russia’s Defence Ministry also claimed that its forces had inflicted significant casualties on Ukrainian troops across multiple sectors of the front. According to the ministry, more than 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the past 24 hours by Russia's Central (Tsentr) group of forces alone. The statement also reported the destruction of 26 armoured vehicles, 66 transport vehicles, and 14 artillery pieces. Additional figures released claimed that Russia’s Western (Zapad) group of forces eliminated over 1,490 Ukrainian personnel, while the Southern (Yug) group accounted for more than 1,400 Ukrainian troops. Over the past week, fighters from the Vostok group reportedly engaged and “defeated” several Ukrainian brigades, including mechanised, airborne, and marine units, as well as formations from the National Guard and territorial defence forces, according to Russian state media outlet RIA. Moscow’s continued advances and annexation of Ukrainian territory represents a major blow for Kiev, compounding a series of battlefield setbacks over the past year. Among the most significant are the fall of Basivka between February and April, the capture of Kurakhove in January, and Russia’s near-total control of the Toretsk region...////...