Moscow is trying to press its advantage in manpower and equipment but territorial gains have been slow and costly. Both sides are heavily entrenched, almost four years after Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine. "The Europeans believe that Ukraine can win the war and secure its interests through military means," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "This is the deepest delusion indulged in by the Kyiv regime. The situation on the front indicates the opposite," he said in a briefing call with reporters. The Russian defence ministry said on Monday it had seized the villages of Slodkie and Nove in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine and Gnativka in the Donestk region. Peskov said the war would only end "when Russia achieves the objectives it set at the beginning". Moscow has said it is fighting to protect Russian speakers in the east of Ukraine, to prevent the NATO military bloc moving eastwards and to remove "neo-Nazis" from power in Ukraine -- all of which have been rejected as baseless by Kyiv and its Western partners. (Bssnews)