Ukrainian leaders are hoping that the beginning of a long-awaited counterattack will liberate territory occupied by Russian troops for more than a year.

UK Ministry of Defence says Ukraine has ‘likely made good progress’ in some areas but that progress is ‘slower’ in others

Zelensky is claiming progress while Russian President Vladimir Putin is saying that the counter-offensive is failing

Ukraine has launched attacks at a number of points across the frontline with Russian forces – suggesting that its long-waited counteroffensive is finally kicking into gear. Officials in Kyiv were coy about the surge in military action, allowing the fog of war to cloud whether it marked the start of its push to reclaim land that Russia has occupied.

US officials have stated there are signs that Ukraine may have launched an expected counter-offensive, but Kyiv has remained silent on its strategy. Source: The New York Times; Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukrainian Ground Forces Commander,

The advance is the latest in a series of similar gains reported by Kyiv near Bakhmut, which Russia said it fully captured last month after the bloodiest and longest battle since it began its invasion in February 2022.

Ukraine’s counter-offensive has already broken through the first Russian lines of defence in places, but its army has taken casualties, British military intelligence said on Saturday. The Ministry of Defence said that the Ukrainian soldiers had met “mixed” resistance,