The president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that Kiev’s troops were “moving forward” in their counterattack against Russian forces, rejecting criticism from Western officials who say that Ukraine is regaining ground very slowly.

The long-awaited counteroffensive, which is approaching three months in duration, has recaptured at least a dozen villages, but no significant settlements, with the soldiers hampered by massive Russian minefields and defensive lines.

This week, unnamed US officials expressed frustration at the slow progress of the businessgoing so far as to blame the Ukrainian strategy, according to Western reports that angered Kiev.

“Ukrainian forces are advancing. However, and no matter what anyone says, you were promoted, and that’s the most important thing. We are on the move,” Zelensky wrote on the Telegram app.

Some fear that support in the West will begin to falter as colder and wetter weather it will slow progress on the battlefield later this year. The West has spent many billions of dollars to help the counteroffensive, and Kiev says it needs more.

Momentum on the Ukrainian battlefield picked up slightly on a section of the southeastern front in Zaporizhia where Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said yesterday, Friday, that Kiev’s troops they broke through the first line of Russian defense.

The White House said there had been “remarkable success” by Ukraine in the region, although Maliar warned that Kiev’s troops they reached more heavily fortified positions on the other side after they broke the lines.

In its daily update on developments on the battlefield, the Ukrainian military did not report any major new progress, but said troops were continuing to advance towards Melitopolis, a major Russian-held urban center in the Zaporizhia region.

He reported 45 clashes with frontline fighting in the past 24 hours and said fighting was raging in the east where Ukrainian troops had repelled several Russian attacks.

Russia describes already the Ukrainian counterattack as a failure. Kiev maintains that it is deliberately advancing slowly to minimize lossesand how its promotion is greatly complicated by the lack of modern air power.