Russian president: Ukraine's counteroffensive failing, enemy not successful

Russian President Vladimir Putin says the counteroffensive, which has been launched by Ukraine against his country's forces since last month, has not been successful and is failing.

"All enemy attempts to break through our defenses...they have not succeeded since the offensive began. The enemy is not successful," the Russian head of state said in a televised interview broadcast on Sunday.

His remarks came after on Friday Ukraine itself acknowledged that its forces are not advancing as fast as it was desired against Russian forces.

"Today, it's advancing not so quickly," Andriy Yermak, head of the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, told reporters.

On the same day, officials in Kiev said Ukrainian troops had advanced nearly two kilometers along the southern front over the past week.

Mykola Urshalovych, a senior representative of Ukraine's National Guard, claimed the country's troops were moving towards the southern city of Melitopol during the ongoing offensive, as the army said it was pursuing offensive operations toward Melitopol and Berdyansk.

Last week, Zelensky said the slow delivery of weapons promised by the West was delaying the counteroffensive, calling on the United States and other allies to provide Kiev with long-range weapons and artillery.

Moscow says it started the war in order to defend the pro-Russian population in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk against persecution by Kiev, and also to "de-Nazify" its neighbor.

Ukraine acknowledges not advancing as quickly as desired against Russia

Ukraine acknowledges its forces are not advancing as fast as it is desired by the country against Russia.

Moscow says the West's anti-Russian agendas, including its eagerness for inclusion of Ukraine in NATO, and the Western military alliance's expansion right up to Russia's borders, forced it to launch the war.

Ever since the beginning of the war, Western countries, led by the United States, have been pumping Ukraine full of tens of billions of dollars worth of advanced weapons.

Russian official: Woman killed in Ukrainian shelling

Also on Sunday, the governor of the western Russian region of Belgorod said a woman was killed after Ukrainian forces shelled the border town of Shebekino with Grad missiles, hitting a market area.

Vyacheslav Gladkov added that Ukrainian shelling of two other Belgorod settlements caused no casualties, but damaged three homes and warehouses in addition to some material damage to an agricultural enterprise.

According to Russian officials, the town of Shebekino has been repeatedly targeted by indiscriminate shelling by Ukraine's armed forces.

If confirmed, Ukraine's targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure amounts to war crime. Kiev has, however, denied launching indiscriminate attacks against civilian population.

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