Ukrainian forces have recaptured 6,000 square kilometers of territory from Russia in a counter offensive this month, including 500 square kilometers in Kherson oblast, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said. Russian forces have “largely ceded their gains to the Ukrainians” in the vicinity of Kharkiv in the northeast, according to a senior US military official, adding some Russian forces moved back to the border, CNN reported. Russian forces continue to attack in Donetsk region, from Siversk to Bakhmut.

“Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is having more and more difficulty hiding the size and scale and scope of his failures inside Ukraine from the Russian people”, White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said.

Ukrainian and Russian forces have been fighting for the town of Lyman, while Ukrainian troops have been attempting to cross the Siverskyi Donetsk River, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said. 

Ukraine has turned the tide of this war in its favor. However, the current counter-offensive will not end the war, ISW noted.