MOSCOW, Aug 20, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - The Russian army said Wednesday it had captured three villages in eastern Ukraine, claiming fresh territorial gains despite US-led peace efforts and a flurry of diplomacy to end the conflict.

Russia's defence ministry said on Telegram its troops had "continued to advance deep into the enemy defences" in the embattled Donetsk region, taking the villages of Sukhetske and Pankivka.

They are near a section of the front where the Russian army broke through Ukrainian defences last week, between the logistics hub of Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka.

In the neighbouring central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region the Russian army said it had captured the village of Novogeorgiivka.

Moscow's troops first entered the region -- previously spared from fighting -- in July.

These latest advances come amid accelerated efforts by the US and European leaders to broker a peace deal that would end the offensive, now in its fourth year.

US President Donald Trump said his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin had agreed to meet the Ukrainian leader and accept some Western security guarantees for Kyiv.

These promises were met with caution in European capitals.

According to three sources familiar with a Monday call between Trump and Putin, the Russian leader proposed holding the summit with Volodymyr Zelensky in Moscow -- an idea rejected by the Ukrainian president.