 In its weekend briefing, Russia's defense ministry said its troops had, quote, liberated three villages in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, further improving its tactical position on the ground. The Kremlin claimed to have annexed Donetsk and three other regions of Ukraine back in the fall of 2022, but Russian forces have never fully controlled any of the territories. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently floated what the Kremlin has presented as a peace proposal by which Ukraine would accept the full loss of the territories in exchange for an immediate ceasefire.