Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian forces has been “particularly effective” over the past few days and Ukrainian troops are fulfilling their primary missions, a senior security official said today.

The comments by Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, are the latest positive assessment from Kiev of its counteroffensive, although Moscow has not acknowledged Ukraine’s territorial gains.

Russia, which launched its invasion in February 2022, continues to control large swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that his troops had made progress after a ” “difficult” week.

“At this stage of active hostilities, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are fulfilling mission number one – the maximum destruction of manpower, equipment, fuel depots, military vehicles, command posts, artillery and air defense forces of the Russian army,” wrote Oleksiy Danilov, head of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, on Twitter.

“The last few days have been particularly productive,” he said, without giving details from the battlefield.

Ukraine said yesterday that its troops had recaptured more territory on the eastern and southern fronts, although Deputy Defense Minister Hana Maliar said fighting had escalated around the town of Bakhmut, which Russian forces captured in May.

Military spokesman Andriy Kovalev said today that Ukraine was continuing to pressure Russian forces north and south of Bakhmut and was having “partial success” despite strong Russian resistance and heavy fighting. He said that the Ukrainian army is managing to hold back the attempted advance of Russian forces in the direction of Liman, Avdiivka and Marinka in eastern Ukraine.

Reuters is unable to independently ascertain the situation on the battlefield, where each side claims the other is suffering heavy casualties.