Zelenskiy: Ukrainian forces advancing in the south and have the initiative

(Patria) - Ukrainian troops continued their campaign on Sunday to retake areas in the southeast controlled by Russia, and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that his country's forces have "taken the initiative" after earlier slowdowns, Reuters reported.

Russian reports state that heavy fighting has engulfed areas outside the eastern city of Bakhmut, which were captured by Russian mercenary forces Wagner in May after months of fighting. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said one of his units was deployed in the area.

Equipped with increasingly sophisticated Western weapons after more than 500 days of war, Ukraine launched an expected counteroffensive, focusing so far on capturing a group of villages in the southwest. Its forces are also trying to recapture areas around Bakhmut.
Deputy Ukrainian Minister of Defense, Hanna Maliar, writing on Telegram, said that
heavy fighting is raging in two areas in the southeast. "We are consolidating our gains in these
areas," she wrote. Russian troops, she said, were defending Bakhmut, while Ukrainian forces recorded "some progress" on the southern flank of the city.

There were no changes north of Bakhmut, and Ukrainian forces remained engaged in heavy
fighting west of Bakhmut and near Lyman, further north.

Zelenskiy gave an interview on the American television network ABC ahead of this week's NATO summit
in Lithuania, where Kyiv hopes to receive firm indications about its future membership in the Western defense alliance, as well as guarantees for its security.
Zelenskiy admitted that progress was slower than he and his generals wanted, but said Ukrainian forces held the initiative.

"We all want it faster because every day means new losses for Ukrainians. We are advancing. We are not stuck," he said, noting that the army had overcome "a kind of stagnation" in previous months.

"We would all like the counteroffensive to end in a shorter period. But there is
reality. Today, the initiative is on our side," he said.

Much attention in recent days has been focused on the village of Klishchiivka, located on
high ground south of Bakhmut. Chechen leader Kadyrov, writing on Telegram, said his Akhmat unit was "in the difficult Bakhmut sector." He published a video of a commander on top of an armored vehicle near the village.

The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that its forces repelled a Ukrainian advance near Bakhmut, with fighting complicated "not only by the daily intensity of fire and battles, but also by the topography. The contact line passes between two hills."