Ukraine has hailed its first substantial battlefield advances in six months as its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, won pledges for new, long-range drones in Britain to add to a haul of Western arms for a counteroffensive against Russian invaders.
Since last week, the Ukrainian military has started to push Russian forces back in and around the embattled city of Bakhmut, its first significant offensive operations since its troops recaptured the southern city of Kherson in November.
"The advance of our troops [in] the Bakhmut direction is the first success of offensive actions in the defence of Bakhmut," Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander of Ground Forces, said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
"The last few days have shown that we can move forward and destroy the enemy, even in such extremely difficult conditions," he said.
"We are fighting with fewer resources than the enemy. At the same time, we are able to ruin its plans."
In its evening battlefield update on Monday, local time, Ukraine's Army General Staff said Russian forces were pressing efforts backed by heavy shelling to gain ground, but had failed to advance around the village of Ivanivske on the city's western fringes.
The battle for Bakhmut has become the longest and bloodiest of the war and has totemic significance for Russia, which has no other prizes to show for a winter campaign that cost thousands of lives.
Over the past half year, Kyiv has dug in on the defensive while Moscow mounted its campaign, sending hundreds of thousands of fresh reservists and mercenaries into Europe's bloodiest ground combat since World War II.
Kyiv is now preparing a counteroffensive, using hundreds of new tanks and armoured vehicles sent by Western countries since the start of 2023, aiming to recapture the sixth of Ukraine's territory that Moscow claims to have annexed.
Surprise UK visit and talks of 'jet coalition'
On Monday, Mr Zelenskyy met British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in London, the latest stop in a tour that has taken him to Rome, Berlin and Paris over the past three days, pocketing major new pledges of weapons along the way.
The pair discussed the continuation of aid from the UK, which includes hundreds of air defence missiles, other unmanned aircraft and long-range attack drones.
During Mr Zelenskyy's visit, Britain promised long-range attack drones that could strike at a range of 200 kilometres.
When asked to provide fighter jets — something Mr Zelenskyy has been hoping to acquire for many months — Mr Sunak once again denied the request, but put his country forward to play a "key part" in the creation of a coalition of allies that will supply jets.
"We want to create this jets coalition and I'm very positive with it," Mr Zelenskyy said.
Mr Sunak said the UK would begin basic training of Ukrainian pilots in the coming months.
"The conflict is at a pivotal moment," Mr Sunak said.
"It is important for the Kremlin to also know that we are not going away. We are here for the long term."
French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview with France's TF1 television that France was open to training Ukrainian pilots, but that he and Mr Zelenskyy had not discussed delivering warplanes.
"I have not talked about airplanes. I have talked about missiles. I have talked about training," Mr Macron said.
Mr Zelenskyy said Britain and Poland had agreed to join a coalition that was being created to train Ukrainian pilots on modern Western aircraft.
"Britain — yes. Poland — yes. And I am sure France and other partners will join," he said.
Storm Shadow shot down
Russia's Defence Ministry said a long-range Storm Shadow missile supplied to Ukraine by Britain had been shot down by Russian forces on Monday.
The ministry said in its daily briefing that it had shot down the cruise missile, as well as shorter-range US-built HIMARS-launched and HARM missiles.
Britain is the first country to publicly supply Kyiv with long-range cruise missiles, which will allow Ukrainian forces to hit Russian troops and supply depots far behind the front lines.
Moscow said on Sunday that Ukraine had used the missiles to strike industrial sites in the Russian-controlled city of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia viewed Britain's decision to supply the missiles "extremely negatively".
"Britain claims to be at the forefront among those countries that continue to pump weapons into Ukraine," he said.
Ukraine claims hospital hit
Four people have been killed in a Russian missile attack that hit a hospital in the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka on Monday, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.
"The Russians attacked the city with missiles this morning, they hit a hospital," Mr Kyrylenko wrote on Telegram.
He posted photographs of a heavily damaged three-storey brick building that was missing a chunk of its side and had spewed rubble and debris onto the ground.
He called on residents of the small city in the industrial Donbas region to evacuate as fast as possible.
"Every new day spent in the Donetsk region increases the risk of becoming a victim of Russian aggression," he said.
ABC/Reuters
