DONETSK, July 30. /TASS/. Russian troops have moved closer to liberating Seversk and Krasnoarmeisk in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) after they gained control of the settlements of Ivano-Daryevka and Lozovatskoye, DPR Head Denis Pushilin said during a live broadcast on the Rossiya-24 television channel on Tuesday.

"The liberation of these communities improves the positions of our units. Of course, we see that if we speak about Ivano-Daryevka, this is a new step towards liberating Seversk and this is the Artyomovsk district. If we speak about Lozovatskoye, this is the next settlement on the way of liberating Krasnoarmeisk," Pushilin said.

These are small communities but the Ukrainian army has turned them into its strongholds, the DPR head said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry reported earlier that Russian troops had liberated the settlement of Ivano-Daryevka on July 23 and the settlement of Lozovatskoye on July 27.