MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia said on Sunday its forces had taken full control of a town in eastern Ukraine as Moscow's forces advance on the strategically important city of Pokrovsk and seek to pierce the Ukrainian defensive front lines.

As Kyiv raced reinforcements to eastern Ukraine to try to stabilize its buckling defensive lines there, President Vladimir Putin of Russia amplified his threats against the region Thursday, calling Moscow’s offensive in the area his military’s “first-priority goal.”