Ukrainian troops say Russian push has driven them out of two more villages

A Ukrainian servicemen is seen during a training in the Donetsk region (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)

Russian forces have overrun two frontline villages, a Ukrainian army sergeant said, after relentless assaults that are part of a Kremlin summer push to overwhelm battlefield defences in the Donetsk region.

“They pressed non-stop” to capture the villages of Vovche and Prohres, the chief sergeant of Ukraine’s 47th Separate Mechanised Brigade told Radio Svaboda.