Moscow troops made one of their most dramatic advancements of the year Tuesday when they pushed deeper into the Donetsk region of Ukraine — just three days before President Trump is set to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Russia’s invasion forces marched some six miles past the frontlines in Donetsk to encircle the towns of Kostyantynivka, Dobropillia and Pokrovsk, advancing Moscow’s goal of taking full control of the region, according to Ukraine’s authoritative DeepState war map.

“The situation is quite chaotic, as the enemy, having found gaps in the defense, is infiltrating deeper, trying to quickly consolidate and accumulate forces for further advancement,” DeepState said in an update.

Donetsk has seen some of the most intense fighting of the war, which is in its third year, with Moscow reportedly demanding full control of the region as part of the upcoming peace talks with Trump.  

The latest advancement was centered on the coal mining town of Dobropillia, which lies just north of Pokrovsk, a key city Russia has been targeting for months.   

Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s top military commander, said Russia was using sheer numbers to overwhelm his forces along the frontlines to make small gains in the region, local Interfax-Ukraine reported. 

The Russian forces have recently made 35 attempts to push back Kyiv’s defenses before making the six-mile gain, Andriy Kovalov, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian army, told the local outlet. 

Syrskyi has since ordered a new wave of reinforcements to the frontlines to end Moscow’s advancements.

The reinforcements are “to detect and destroy enemy sabotage groups that penetrate the line of defence,” Kovalov said.

Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser, touted Tuesday’s advancement as the necessary leverage Putin needs ahead of his meeting with Trump. 

“This breakthrough is like a gift to Putin and Trump during the negotiations,” Markov told Reuters, suggesting it could put pressure on Ukraine to give up some of its land in exchange for peace. 

Experts, however, said Russia’s gains are not enough to boast a meaningful victory given the amount of soldiers and ammunition thrown into Moscow’s meat grinder for an advancement of just six miles.

George Barros, of the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War think tank, said there is no evidence to suggest whole Russian platoons made it through the frontlines on Tuesday. 

“Worst case, it’s a tactical penetration in the localized area which the Russians will hope to certainly snowball into a larger operational penetration,” he told The Post. “But it’s far from clear they can either do that.”  

Barros, instead, surmised that Moscow is likely playing up the attack to bolster the perception that Russia is winning the war despite the reality of months-long quagmires along the frontlines. 

“The Russians are counting on us to hyperbole it in order to give Putin more leverage and incorrectly manipulate Western presidents and his officials thinking about this,” Barros warned.

“That’s the important thing. We really need the president to go into the meeting with a clear head about what this is and how Putin is trying to play this mind game.”

Moscow has maintained that one of its conditions for ending the war in Ukraine would be for Kyiv to cede all the territory that Russia has taken in more than three years of fighting. 

Donetsk is one of the territories Russia is most keen on taking, with Moscow allegedly telling Trump last week that it would be open to withdrawing its forces out of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in exchange for complete control of Donetsk,  according to The Wall Street Journal. 

Kyiv has maintained that it would not cede any territory to the Russian invaders, urging Trump to avoid any talks with Putin on surrendering land without Ukraine present at the negotiating table.  

With Post wires