Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed on Friday that its forces had captured the mining town of Toretsk in their latest breakthrough in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, where Ukrainian defenses are creaking.

Russia said Friday its forces had seized the mining town of Toretsk in east Ukraine after months of heavy fighting, allowing Moscow to push further into the Donbas region. Kyiv denied Russia had full control of the industrial hub.

Russian forces have taken control of the city of Toretsk in eastern Ukraine, Russia's Defence Ministry said on Friday. Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield report. Russia calls the city by its Soviet-era name of Dzerzhynsk and says Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region is now part of Russia,