Russian-backed separatist forces in east Ukraine said Friday they had regained territory near the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, even as Ukraine’s forces claw back swathes of territory in the east.

“On the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic, a grouping of troops of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics, with fire support from Russian forces, liberated Otradovka, Veselaya Dolina and Zaitsevo,” a separatist military detachment said in a statement on the Telegram social media platform.

The statement referred to the Moscow-backed, self-declared “republics” in Ukraine’s east.

Source: France 24