The Ukrainian military has claimed more success in its counteroffensive against Russian forces on the southeastern front, a day after announcing the liberation of a village that had served as a Russian strong point.
The military said Ukraine had made progress to the south of Urozhaine, a village in Donetsk region that Kyiv said on Wednesday it had retaken as it tries to build momentum for a southward push into occupied areas towards the Sea of Azov.
"In the direction south of Urozhaine they (Ukrainian troops) had success," military spokesman Andriy Kovaliov said on national television.
He did not elaborate.
Urozhaine was the first village Kyiv said it had retaken since July 27, a stretch of time that signalled the challenge Kyiv faces in advancing through heavily mined Russian defensive lines without powerful air support.
It lies about 100 kilometres west of the Russian-held city of Donetsk.
Kovaliov also reported fierce fighting in the northeastern Kharkiv region, and around an eastern village not far from Bakhmut, the city occupied by Russian forces in May after a bloody months-long struggle.
"The enemy conducted unsuccessful offensive actions in the area of Senkivka in Kharkiv region and Bohdanivka in Donetsk," he said.
"There are serious battles here.
"In the Bakhmut direction, defensive forces (Ukraine) continue to conduct offensive actions to the south of Bakhmut."
A Ukrainian general said on Wednesday Russia was attacking toward Kupiansk, a town in Kharkiv region, but Kovaliov said Ukraine was holding them back, as well as Russian assaults to Bakhmut's north and near the town of Lyman.
Russia controls almost a fifth of Ukraine, including the peninsula of Crimea, most of Luhansk region and large tracts of the regions of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
Kyiv says its counteroffensive is progressing slower than it wanted because of vast Russian minefields and heavily-fortified Russian defensive lines.
The claimed gains came after air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat told Ukrainian television late on Wednesday Kyiv would not be able to operate United States-built F-16 fighter jets this year.
"It's already obvious we won't be able to defend Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets during this autumn and winter," Ihnat told a joint telethon broadcast by Ukrainian channels.
Ukraine has repeatedly called its Western allies to supply the country with F-16s, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said would be a signal Russia's invasion would end in defeat.
US President Joe Biden endorsed training program for Ukrainian pilots on F-16s in May but no timing for the supply of war planes has been given so far.
"We had big hopes for this plane, that it will become part of air defence, able to protect us from Russia's missiles and drones terrorism," Ihnat said.
The West says it wants to help Ukraine defeat Russia but has repeatedly insisted it does not want to trigger a direct confrontation between the US-backed NATO military alliance and Moscow.
