French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that Ukraine's long-awaited counter-offensive against invading Russian forces will be underway for weeks or even months.
"The Ukrainian counter-offensive started several days ago," Macron said, speaking alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Polish President Andrzej Duda at the Elysee Palace.
"It will be deployed over several weeks or even months," he said.
"We want it to be as successful as possible so that we can then start a negotiation phase in good conditions".
The long-awaited campaign is being carried out with weapons donated by Western allies.
Ukraine on Monday said it had retaken seven villages and made small gains in a counter-offensive against Russian forces that France said could last months.
"The fighting is tough, but we are moving forward, this is very important," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a daily evening address.
"I thank our guys for every Ukrainian flag that is now returning to its rightful place in villages on the newly de-occupied territory," he said.
Send a clear signal to NATO
Duda said the Western military alliance NATO had to "send a clear signal" about Ukraine's desperate quest to join the bloc at its next summit on 11 and 12 July in Vilnius.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced hope that the offensive would force Russian President Vladimir Putin into talks about ending its invasion.
He said the United States was "confident that they will continue to have success".
Ukraine's defence minister Ganna Malyar said on Telegram on Monday that "seven settlements were liberated" -- referring to the villages of Lobkovo, Levadne and Novodarivka in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, which houses Europe's largest nuclear plant, now under Russian occupation.
Malyar said Ukrainian forces had also regained control of the village of Storozheve in the south of the Donetsk region, near three villages recaptured on Sunday.
"The area of the territory taken under control amounted to 90 square kilometres," Malyar said.
The Ukrainian defence ministry meanwhile said its forces had advanced "250 to 700 metres" in the direction of the flashpoint eastern city of Bakhmut.
Russia said earlier Monday that it repelled Ukrainian attacks in the same area in the Donetsk region near Velyka Novosilka.
It also said it fought off Ukrainian attacks around the village of Levadne in Zaporizhzhia region.
The claims by Moscow and Kyiv could not by verified independently.
Dam collapse death toll rises
Meanwhile, in southern Ukraine, two more civilian bodies were found drowned in the heavily flooded city of Kherson, raising the death toll to 10 on the Ukrainian-controlled side of the Dnipro river after the Kakhovka dam was breached.
Officials warned dozens were still missing.
"Currently, we know about 10 dead in Kherson and the region," Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said on Telegram.
"We are also reporting 41 people as missing."
Kyiv has accused Moscow of blowing up the dam on the Dnipro River, while Russia has blamed Ukraine.
The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, will arrive in Kyiv on Tuesday to meet Zelensky before heading to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
The Russian-held Kakhovka dam forms a reservoir that provides the cooling water for the Russian-occupied plant.
(with AFP)
