MOSCOW, Dec 11 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin thanked the Russian army on Thursday after commanders told him that their forces had taken full control of the town of Siversk in eastern Ukraine, a long-time target for Moscow.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine and Reuters could not verify the battlefield claim.
Commanders told Putin that the capture of Siversk, a town with a pre-war population of over 10,000 people in the Donetsk region, was a stepping stone towards taking Sloviansk, one of the two biggest cities in Donetsk still under Ukrainian control.
They told Putin that Ukraine had tried to defend Siversk, which Russians call Seversk, with various trenches and fortifications, and that the Russian army had defeated it by choking off its logistics routes, outflanking its troops and carrying out targeted assaults.
"We understand that by creating this fortified area in the Seversk region and in the city itself, the enemy hoped that we would get bogged down in the assault on this city, thereby holding back our advance," Putin told commanders.
"The enemy failed. But you succeeded in everything you planned and everything you set out to do. Congratulations".
(Reporting by ReutersWriting by Andrew OsbornEditing by Mark Trevelyan)
