The think tank the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said Russia has made gains in the west of Donetsk City, though they remain minor and the front line remains unchanged.

This comes after Russian forces unleashed a nighttime barrage of more than 50 cruise missiles and explosive drones at Ukraine’s power grid.

They targeted a wide area in what President Volodymyr Zelensky called a “massive” attack. Three people, including an 8-year-old girl, were injured, according to officials.

The bombardment blasted targets in seven Ukrainian regions, including the Kyiv area and parts of the south and west, damaging homes and the country’s rail network, authorities said.

Russian attacks have damaged nearly half of Ukraine’s power infrastructure since the start of the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, officials say.

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The damage is estimated at $12.5 billion (£9 billion), with $1 billion (£800,000) inflicted during the past two weeks, according to the chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament’s Committee on Energy and Housing Services, Andrii Herus.

Vadym Filashkin, governor of the eastern Donetsk region, also warned that Russian troops are trying to break through defensive lines in eastern Ukraine by firing between 1,500 to 2,500 artillery rounds and airstrikes every day.

He told Sky News: “The enemy will move onwards. If, God forbid, this happens, the enemy will advance further into the central territory of our country.

“We will not allow this and we will do everything possible – and impossible – to hold the enemy here in the Donetsk region and restore the borders to those of 1991.”