"As a result of successful actions by Battlegroup Tsentr, the city of Selydovo in the Donetsk People's Republic has been completely liberated," the ministry said in a statement.
Russian forces initially nearly encircled this city of 24,000, securing positions in the southern and eastern areas, pushing Ukrainian forces into the center. Intense street fighting then took place in high-rise areas.
Earlier on Tuesday, it was reported that the army had liberated three more settlements in the DPR - Katerinovka, Dobrovolye, and Gornyak. The latter, in particular, includes an important railway line that supplies a significant portion of Ukrainian forces in the Donbass. Additionally, the area has several large coal mines. The liberation of Gornyak will deal a serious blow to Ukraine's coal industry.
A key city for Kiev in this part of the DPR is Pokrovsk (formerly Krasnoarmeysk), an important logistics hub through which supplies are routed to forces from the Zaporozhye direction.