General Valery Gerasimov, Russia's chief of staff of the armed forces in what Moscow calls its "special military operation", said Moscow's troops were making progress in the eastern Donetsk region, the conflict's focal point, and further west in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions. "Our troops in the zone of the special military operation are advancing in practically all directions," the Defence Ministry quoted Gerasimov as saying.