Ukrainian forces claim to have marched farther east into areas abandoned by Russia, paving the way for fierce confrontation in the breakaway Donbas region as Kiev lobbies for more Western arms. 

A Russian official rejects new allegations by the United Nations and the United States that Moscow is forcibly relocating Ukrainians to Russia, more than six months after a military conflict erupted between Russia and Ukraine.

The Kremlin says the new decision would “make the situation more difficult for Europeans as well.”

North Korea is the third country, after Russia and Syria, to have recognized the breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent territories.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called the liberation of Ukraine's Donbas region an “unconditional priority” for Moscow, while other Ukrainian territories should decide their future.

The Russian army has focused its fresh offensive in Ukraine on the eastern Donetsk region, targeting military bases in several towns across the restive region, the Ukrainian military said on Monday.

The conflict in Ukraine has raised the prospects of an all out confrontation between nuclear armed states with Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, warning of the likelihood of World War III breaking out.

Russia has renewed its warning against further expansion of the NATO military alliance, saying the alliance remains “a tool of confrontation”.