The General Staff of the country's armed forces reported that Ukrainian troops "continued counteroffensive operations" in two regions in the southeast of the country as the war in that nation approached the 500-day milestone.
The damaged eastern city of Bakhmut, which was overrun by Russian forces in May after months of fighting, has reportedly also been reclaimed by Ukrainian forces, according to officials.
According to the interior ministry of Ukraine, a Russian rocket attack on the town of Lyman early on Saturday morning resulted in the deaths of eight people and the injuries of 13. The eastern Donetsk region's governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, uploaded pictures of some of the dead, including one lying beneath a bicycle and body pieces next to a wrecked car, warning that "the Russian terrorists are continuing."
Five commanders of the Ukrainian garrison in Mariupol travelled back from a trip to Turkey with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Russia condemned the return, claiming it broke the terms of the prisoner exchange agreement, which called on Ankara to detain the soldiers in Turkey until the war's conclusion.
Anthony Blinken, the secretary of state for the United States, referred to Russia as "the sole obstacle to a just and lasting peace" and pledged to support Kyiv "for as long as it takes" as the Russia-Ukraine war entered its 500th day.
The foreign ministry of France stated that the time period "must make Russia realise that it is in a deadlock and immediately cease its illegal war of aggression."
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