Russia reported fierce fighting on Sunday on three sections of the front line in Ukraine while Ukraine’s president praised his troops for repelling Russia’s advances and claimed their counter-offensive was progressing well.
The assessments of action along the 1,000-km (600-mile) long front were made a day after an African peace mission wrapped up talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The mission failed to spark enthusiasm from either Moscow or Kyiv.
A Russian official said Ukraine had recaptured Piatykhatky, a village in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, and were entrenching themselves there while coming under fire from Russian artillery.
Russia’s defence ministry made no mention of Piatykhatky in its daily update, in which it said its forces had repelled Ukrainian attacks in three sections of the front line. Russia’s Vostok group of forces said Ukraine had failed to take the settlement….