Ukrainian troops are “consolidating gains” after seizing back more than 74 square miles of territory from Putin’s army, a minister said on Monday.
They were pressing on with the counter-offensive in the south east of the war-torn country as President Volodymyr Zelensky stressed his country's forces had "taken the initiative" after an earlier slowdown.
Ukrainian military chiefs claimed Russian soldiers were now “trapped” inside the eastern town of Bakhmut which has seen some of the fiercest fighting in Europe since the Second World War.
Giving an early update on Monday from around the frontlines, the Ukrainian military said its troops have so far retaken 169 square kilometres (more than 65 square miles) on the southern front and 24 sq km around Bakhmut since its counter-offensive began last month.
Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said that heavy fighting raged in two areas of the south east.
“We are consolidating our gains in those areas,” she wrote.
Russian troops, she said, were defending Bakhmut, while Ukrainian forces had registered “a certain advance” on the town’s southern flank.
Ukraine's forces had taken control of the main commanding heights around Bakhmut and established fire control over entrances and exits to the shattered town, she added.
Russian accounts said heavy fighting gripped areas outside Bakhmut which was captured by Russian mercenary Wagner forces in May after a months-long siege.
Pro-Moscow Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said one of his units was deployed in the area.
Equipped with increasingly sophisticated Western weaponry after more than 500 days of war, Ukraine has launched an anticipated counter-offensive focusing so far on capturing a cluster of villages in the southeast. Its forces have also been trying to retake areas around Bakhmut.
Mr Zelensky was interviewed on US television network ABC ahead of this week's Nato summit in Lithuania, where Kyiv hopes to receive firm indications about both future membership in the Western defence alliance and guarantees for its security.
Ukraine’s president acknowledged that advances on the ground were slower than what he and his generals wanted, but said Ukrainian forces held the initiative.
"All of us, we want to do it faster because every day means new losses of Ukrainians. We are advancing. We are not stuck," he said, noting that the military had overcome a "kind of stagnation" in previous months.
"We would all love to see the counter-offensive accomplished in a shorter period of time. But there is reality. Today, the initiative is on our side."
Ukrainian forces have been slowed down by heavily mined fields, in front of Russian defences, as they seek to limit casualties.
Much attention in recent days has focused on the village of Klishchiivka, lying on heights to the south of Bakhmut.
Chechen leader Kadyrov, writing on Telegram, said his "Akhmat" unit was "in the difficult Bakhmut sector". He posted a video of a commander atop an armoured vehicle near Klishchiivka.
Russian reports in recent days had suggested that Kadyrov, whose forces have been active since the beginning of the Russian invasion, was ill or injured or "on holiday".
Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces had repelled Ukrainian advances near Bakhmut, with fighting made difficult "not only by the daily intensity of fire and battle, but also by topography. The line of contact runs between two hills."
Ukrainian military analyst Denys Popovych said Ukrainian forces had taken "important” positions near Klishchiivka.
"This will allow for artillery control of Klishchiivka itself and of parts of Bakhmut and supply routes," he told Ukraine's NV Radio. "Just as Wagner surrounded the (town), so will we."
