President Vladimir Putin on Thursday urged Russians to vote in the presidential elections this weekend, as the long-serving leader seeks to cement his hold on power.

He also hailed that the vote will take place in four recently occupied territories of Ukraine as well as the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014.

The Russian leader said Russia fighters at the war front would also vote, stressing that they are showing courage and heroism, by defending their Fatherland and, participating in the elections.

He added that in order to continue to respond to the fighters with dignity, Russia would need to be united and self-confident.

Putin is set to secure another six-year term this weekend in a vote the Kremlin said would show that the society is fully behind his assault on Ukraine.

Victory in the March 15-17 contest would allow him to be president until at least 2030, longer than any Russian leader since Catherine the Great in the eighteenth century.

Russia's troops in Ukraine have chalked up their first battlefield gains in months, as Putin's most strident critic, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison colony last month.