Kyiv [Ukraine], July 15: President VolodymyrZelenskiy warned Ukrainians that Russia was throwing all its resources into a campaign to stop Kyiv's troops from pressing their counter-offensive and a top general reported new progress on the southern front.
But Ukrainian military analysts suggested that things were not easy for Ukrainian forces in their bid to advance southward.
Ukraine has launched a counter-offensive to take back swathes of land in eastern and southern Ukraine captured by Russian forces in their invasion launched in February 2022.
It has focused on capturing villages in the southeast in a drive towards the Sea of Azov and areas near the eastern city of Bakhmut, taken by Russian forces in May after months of battles.
Russian accounts said its forces had repelled Ukrainian attacks in the eastern Donetsk region, including around Bakhmut.
Reuters was unable to verify battlefield reports.
General OleksanderTarnavskyi, commander of Ukrainian forces in the south, said after the meeting that his troops were "systematically moving the enemy out of their positions".
Enemy losses over the past 24 hours were equivalent to at least 200, he wrote on Telegram.
Russia's Defence Ministry, in its daily report, said its forces had repelled 16 Ukrainian attacks on the eastern front, including near the long-contested town of Maryinka and in the strategic village of Klishchiivka, on Bakhmut's southern fringe.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Cooperation