KYIV, July 03 (AFP): Ukraine on Monday reported making gains in the south and east over the past week in difficult fighting to dislodge Moscow's heavily entrenched forces.
While Russia's security service (FSB) said it had foiled an assassination attempt on the head of Crimea, a southern peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
Kyiv's troops, which have faced intense resistance in their counteroffensive launched last month, have urged Western allies for more military support.
"Last week was difficult on the frontline. But we are making progress," Ukrainian President Volodymyr said. "We are moving forward, step by step!"
Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar noted that Ukrainian forces over the past week recaptured nine square kilometres (four square miles) in the east and 28 square kilometres in the south.
Ukraine's forces have taken back over 158 square kilometres in the south since the start of the counteroffensive, Malyar said.
Kyiv's troops have come up against heavily entrenched Russian defensive positions both along the southern and eastern fronts.
Malyar said Ukrainian troops were fighting "fierce" battles around the eastern flashpoint city of Bakhmut.
Russian forces were also on the offensive, and in recent days launched new assaults towards Svatove, in the eastern Lugansk region.
On Sunday, Malyar said Russia was advancing near Svatove, as well as near Avdiivka, Mariinka and Lyman. "The situation is quite complicated," she said.
"Ukraine did not reach its goals in any of the sectors," Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said, claiming that nearly all Leopard tanks provided by Poland and Portugal had been destroyed.
No need for new mobilisation
to replace Wagner: Russian
There is no need for further mobilisation in Russia to replace Wagner troops who have left the battlefield in Ukraine after a short-lived mutiny, state media said on Monday, quoting a defence official.
Last month the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, led his forces in a rebellion against Russia's top military brass in a huge embarrassment for the Kremlin.
Prigozhin later abandoned his advance on Moscow and struck a deal with the Kremlin under which he accepted exile in neighbouring Belarus.
"There is no threat at all regarding a drop in the combat potential, both in the mid-term and long-term perspective," Andrey Kartapolov, head of the State Duma Defence Committee, was quoted as saying by the state-backed TASS news agency.
"At the time of the (attempted) rebellion, there were no Wagner PMC employees at the forefront, they were all in camps," he added.
After sending troops to Ukraine in February, 2022, President Vladimir Putin in September ordered a "partial" military call-up to boost regular forces in the first military mobilisation in Russia since World War II.
Moscow says foiled bid
to kill head of Crimea
Russia's FSB security service has thwarted an attack on the Moscow-installed head of the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014, and arrested a suspect, Russian news agencies reported Monday.
"An assassination attempt organised by Ukraine's special services targeting the head of the Republic of Crimea Sergei Aksyonov, was foiled," Russian state-run agency TASS reported, citing an FSB statement.
