LUGANSK, September 7. /TASS/. Last week, Russian troops stepped up their advance in the special military operations zone in Ukraine and took control of more than 100 square kilometers of territory, military expert Andrey Marochko reported.

Marochko noted that last week, Russian forces took control of 15 settlements: three in the Sumy Region, four in the Kharkov Region, six in the Donetsk People’s Republic, and two in the Zaporozhye Region.

"During the reporting period, the Russian Armed Forces significantly increased the pace of their advance in virtually all directions. Compared to the last week of August, twice as many settlements have been liberated and more than 100 square kilometers of territory have been placed under control," he wrote on his VKontakte social media page.