By Yurii Kovalenko, Anastasiia Malenko and Vladyslav Smilianets KYIV (Reuters) -Several nights a week, Daria Slavytska packs a yoga mat, blankets and food into a stroller and descends with her two-year-old Emil into the Kyiv subway.

Russia now controls more than two-thirds of Ukraine’s Donetsk region — the main theater of the ground war. Russian forces have carved out a 10-mile-deep pocket around the Ukrainian troops defending the crucial city of Kostiantynivka, partly surrounding them from the east, south and west.

For the past three years carpenter Matt has been delivering aid to the city of Sumy, which is on the front line of the war in Ukraine. Every six weeks he makes the 2,000-mile (3,219km) trip from his home in Oxfordshire, working extra days so he can afford to regularly drive to the warzone.

Putin’s refusal to compromise on Ukraine, say analysts, is a colossal error costing Russia regional influence, lucrative energy markets and its place in the world.

US President Donald Trump’s 50-day pause ahead of possible secondary sanctions on Russia gifts the Kremlin a window to exploit the incremental gains of recent weeks in Ukraine’s east.

Australia's government said on Saturday it had delivered M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine as part of a A$245 million ($160 million) package to help the country defend itself against Russia in their ongoing war.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy named Yulia Svyrydenko, the former economy minister, as the country’s new head of government earlier this week.

Trump’s decision to allow weapon sales to Ukraine culminated a five-month effort by allies to help Volodymyr Zelensky rebuild a relationship with the president.