The Russian army has claimed victory in the village of Klishchiivka, with a pre-war population of 400 (Picture: EPA)

Russia claims to have captured a village in its intense, months-long push toward the eastern Ukraine city of Bakhmut.

The Russian Ministry of Defence said in an update that its forces had ‘liberated’ Klishchiivka.

The small village is located in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, approximately five miles south of Bakhmut.

The tiny settlement, which had a pre-war population of around 400, is a minor victory at best in terms of scale.

But news of its capture will no doubt please the Kremlin who are desperate for tangible battlefield victories after months of setbacks.

There has been no immediate comment on the news from Ukraine.

Bakhmut has been one of the Russian army’s biggest targets throughout the war, and has taken on a huge symbolic significance for both sides.

A strategically important city home to some of the conflict’s bloodiest battles, its capture would allow Russia to disrupt Ukrainian supply lines in the east and threaten other Ukrainian-held cities in the surrounding region.

The village’s capture is part of Russia’s months-long attempt to capture the city of Bakhmut (Picture: Getty)

Wagner group head Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has made the city’s capture his top priority, has said the level of Ukrainian resistance within the area has been so fierce that his forces have sometimes spent weeks attempting to capture a single house.

The war has been largely static during the winter months, according to military analysts, except for in hot spots such as Bakhmut and nearby Soledar.

In the meantime, the Kremlin’s forces have kept up their long-distance shelling of Ukrainian targets, hitting key infrastructure and civilian areas while probing defences in the east.

On Friday, the Ukrainian presidential office said at least five civilians have been killed over the previous 24 hours.

Ukraine has pleaded with Western nations to provide them with tanks to launch a fresh offensive against Russia in the spring (Picture: Reuters)

The announcement came as Russian forces shelled seven regions in the country’s south and east.

John Lough, an associate fellow in the Russia and Eurasia programme at the Chatham House think tank in London, said the Ukraine battlefield situation is ‘inconclusive’, with a renewed Russian push expected in the spring.

The war is ‘quite delicately poised’, he said.

In the meantime, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pleaded with Western allies to send tanks that would help punch through Russian lines. 

Marina Miron, of the Defence Studies Department at King’s College London, said tanks are useful but lots of factors need to be taken into account.

Those factors include how many tanks will be sent, what condition they are in, how Ukrainian crews will be trained, when the tanks will be delivered and how the Ukrainians keep them supplied.

Sending tanks is ‘more of a political gesture’ than something that will change the complexion of the war, Ms Miron said.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

For more stories like this, check our news page.

The Russian army has claimed victory in the village of Klishchiivka, with a pre-war population of 400.