Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy vowed there would be no let-up in fighting to regain territory lost to Russia as Kyiv reported its troops had advanced to the eastern bank of the Oskil River, threatening Russian occupation forces in the Donbas.
Crossing the Oskil is another important milestone in Ukraineโs counter-offensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region as it flows south to the Siversky Donets River, which goes right through Luhansk, one of two provinces in the Donbas region.
Ukrainian troops โhave pushed across the Oskil. From yesterday, Ukraine controls the east bank,โ the Ukrainian Armed Forces wrote on Telegram late Sunday.
Serhiy Gaidai, governor of Luhansk region, wrote on Telegram: โLuhansk region is right next door. Decoccupation is not far away.โ
Zelenskiy vowed to keep up the pressure on Moscow after Ukraineโs rapid gains in Kharkiv this month.
โPerhaps it seems to some of you that after a series of victories we now have a lull of sorts,โ he said in his regular nightly address on Sunday. โBut there will be no lull. There is preparation for the next series โฆ For Ukraine must be free. All of it.โ
U.S. President Joe Biden also said victory for Ukraine meant removing Russian forces from the entire country, and pledged U.S. support for as long as it takes.
โWinning the war in Ukraine is to get Russia out of Ukraine completely and to recognise the sovereignty. Theyโre defeating Russia,โ he said in an interview with CBSโs โ60 Minutesโ broadcast on Sunday.
โRussiaโs turning out not to be as competent and capable as many people thought they were going to be.โ
Russian artillery pounded towns and villages across the frontlines in the east and south on Sunday, including civilian infrastructure in Zaporizhzhia city, Ukrainian officials said.
Britain said Russian forces had widened strikes on civilian infrastructure following battlefield setbacks and were likely to expand their targets further.
โAs it faces setbacks on the front lines, Russia has likely extended the locations it is prepared to strike in an attempt to directly undermine the morale of the Ukrainian people and government,โ Britainโs defence ministry said.
Ukraineโs southern command on Monday said strikes were also launched on a radar station near Kherson and on a pontoon crossing near Nova Kakhovka east of Kherson, where a Ukrainian counter-offensive has focused on taking out bridges across the Dnipro and Inhulets Rivers.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the battlefield reports.
PUTIN, BIDEN WARNINGS
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin brushed off Ukraineโs swift counteroffensive and said Moscow would respond more forcefully if its troops were put under further pressure.
Such repeated threats have raised concerns Putin could at some point turn to small nuclear weapons or chemical warfare.
U.S. President Joe Biden, asked what he would tell Putin if he was considering using such weapons, replied in the CBSโs โ60 Minutesโ interview: โDonโt. Donโt. Donโt. It would change the face of war unlike anything since World War Two.โ
Some military analysts have said Russia might also stage a nuclear incident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant held by Russia but run by Ukrainian staff.
Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other for shelling around the plant that has damaged buildings and disrupted power lines needed to keep it cooled and safe.
U.S. Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called for vigilance on Sunday after visiting a base in Poland aiding Ukraineโs war effort.
โThe war is not going too well for Russia right now so itโs incumbent upon all of us to maintain high states of readiness, alert,โ he said after his trip to the base, which reporters travelling with him were asked not to identify.
With its battlefield losses mounting, the Russian army is seeking contract soldiers for what it calls the โspecial military operationโ in Ukraine, and is offering nearly $3,000 a month as an incentive.
A special unit stationed a recruitment truck in the southern city of Rostov on the weekend and masked soldiers handed out brochures titled โMilitary service on a contract โ the choice of a real man.โ
MASS GRAVES
On Saturday, Zelenskiy said authorities had found a mass grave containing the bodies of 17 soldiers in Izium, some of which he said bore signs of torture.
Izium residents have been searching for dead relatives at a forest grave site where workers began exhuming bodies last week. Ukrainian officials said last week they had found 440 bodies in woods near Izium. They said most of the dead were civilians and the causes of death had not been established.
The Kremlin has not commented on the discovery of the graves, but in the past Moscow has repeatedly denied deliberately attacking civilians or committing atrocities.
In Kozacha Lopan, a village some 45 km (30 miles) north of Kharkiv and close to the Russian border, a Reuters reporter was taken to a squalid cellar with rooms fitted with iron bars which officials said had served as a makeshift prison during the occupation.
District Mayor Vyacheslav Zadorenko said the rooms had been used as a โtorture cellarโ to detain civilians.
