Ukraine's counter-offensive in the east and south regions continues as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed his troops retook over 6,000 sq km of Ukrainian territory from Russian control.
"Since the start of September, our soldiers have already liberated 6,000 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory in the east and south, and we are moving further," the Ukrainian president said.
In his address, Zelensky thanked the 57th Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade, the 59th Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade, and the 128th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade for their achievement, according to Kyiv-based media Ukrainska Pravda.
Zelenskyy also took to social media to urge world leaders to recognise Russia as a terrorist state. "Yesterday and today, the Russian army struck the Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians found themselves in the dark without electricity. Houses, hospitals, schools, communal infrastructure, Russian missiles hit precisely those objects that have absolutely nothing to do with the infrastructure of the Armed Forces of our country,” he posted on his official Telegram account.
"To protect against this, we must further strengthen our cooperation. Together we can overcome Russian terror. Russia must be recognised as a terrorist state,” Zelenskyy said.
According to Ukraine's armed forces, they have been making great strides the last week, reclaiming dozens of towns and villages in both northeast Ukraine, in the Kharkiv region and around Kherson in the south. This includes the strategically important towns of Izyum and Kupiansk.
This comes as Ukrainian forces reportedly outnumbered Russian troops by eight times during the Kharkiv counter-offensive. Vitaly Ganchev, a Russian official, said the situation is becoming more difficult by the hour and the border with Russia’s Belgorod region was now closed. Kremlin also published a map showing the Kharkiv region, entirely abandoned by Russian forces, according to Al Jazeera.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitriy Peskov has said that Putin is aware of the "regrouping" of Russian troops on the battlefront in Ukraine. "Of course, everything that happens, any actions taken by the military command during the ‘special operation’ are reported to the Supreme Commander," Peskov said.
"The President is in constant, nearly round-the-clock communication with the Russian Minister of Defence and all military commanders. It cannot be otherwise during the execution of a ‘special military operation," he added.
Peskov also ruled out any prospects of negotiations. He added that the special military operation continues and will continue until all the goals that were originally set are achieved.
Immediately after Zelensky's claim of recapturing territories, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed that Ukraine made "significant progress" in its counter-offensive but added it was too early to predict the outcome.
"The Russians maintain very significant forces in Ukraine as well as equipment and arms and munitions. They continue to use it indiscriminately against not just the Ukrainian armed forces but civilians and civilian infrastructure as we've seen," Blinken said.
