Reuters reported on Monday, citing two industry sources, that the country's only coking coal mine supplying Ukraine's steel manufacturing was shut down as advancing Russian forces close in on the site. Metinvest, which owns the Pokrovsk plant, said in a ...

The Russian army is strengthening its positions in villages around the key eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk in an attempt to encircle it and lay siege to a vital transport hub linking embattled Donbas with the rest of Ukraine.

Ukraine has stopped production at its coking coal mine in Pokrovsk, which feeds the country's steel industry, because of the proximity of advancing Russian forces, two industry sources told Reuters on Monday.

MOSCOW/KYIV (Reuters) -Russian forces are closing in on the strategically important eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk after capturing a string of villages to its south, and Ukraine has halted production at its only coking coal mine nearby due to the advance.

Russian forces have been making steady territorial gains in Ukraine's east, amid reports of fatigue and strain among the ranks of Kyiv's military.

Russian troops pressing their slow advance through eastern Ukraine took control of two settlements in Donetsk region, Russia's Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.