Ukraine says recaptured 3 square km around Bakhmut last week

Ukraine said on Monday its forces had recaptured a clutch of territory around the war-battered eastern town of Bakhmut last week, wresting back land taken by Russian forces this summer.

Kyiv launched a highly-anticipated counter-offensive in June after building up assault battalions and stockpiling Western-donated weapons but has acknowledged slow progress.

"In the Bakhmut sector, three square kilometres (1.2 square miles) were liberated last week,"  Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar told state television.

"In total, 40 square kilometres have been liberated on the southern flank of the Bakhmut sector," she added.

Russian forces, spearheaded by the Wagner mercenary group, captured the town of some 70,000 in May after months of fierce fighting.

Ukrainian forces have also been pressing against deeply entrenched Russian forces in the south of the country, in two regions the Kremlin said it had annexed last year.

Malyar said Ukrainian forces had been pushing towards the captured towns of Melitopol and Berdyansk, adding that "hostilities are continuing in Urozhaine", a settlement on the southern front in the Donetsk region.

"We have certain successes there. Our forces also had certain successes on the south of Staromayorsk," the deputy defence minister said, referring to another nearby town.

Malyar also confirmed that Ukrainian troops had conducted "certain tasks" on the left bank of the Dnipro river in the Kherson region.

The river was rendered the de facto front line between Ukrainian and Russian forces in the region after Kyiv recaptured the territory's main city, also called Kherson, in November.

"We cannot reveal the details but we completed these tasks. In order to entrench there, it is necessary to dislodge the enemy and clear the territory," Malyar said.

Ukraine says downed waves of missiles, drones over Odesa

Meanwhile, Ukraine downed three waves of Russian missiles and drones targeting Odesa, its army said early on Monday, the latest in a string of attacks in the southern region on the Black Sea coast.

"The enemy attacked Odesa region three times during the night, using two waves of attack drones, a total of 15, and eight Kalibr-type sea-based missiles," the Operational Command South wrote on Telegram.

Air defence forces repelled all the attacks, but falling debris damaged a student dormitory and a supermarket in Odesa's city centre, leaving three workers wounded, the army said.

"The blast wave damaged windows and balconies in several buildings, and damaged cars parked nearby", it said, adding that firefighters were battling two blazes.

Photos and videos shared by the army on Telegram showed firefighters trying to extinguish flames engulfing a multi-storey supermarket, with a large plume of smoke rising into the air.

Russia and Ukraine have stepped up attacks in the Black Sea since Moscow exited a deal last month that had granted Kyiv's grain exports safe passage during the conflict.

Since withdrawing from the agreement, Moscow has pounded ports in the Odesa region that were key for Ukrainian grain exports under the deal.

The overnight missile and drone attacks come a day after Moscow said warning shots were fired from a Russian warship at a cargo vessel heading towards Izmail, a city on the Danube river in Odesa.

The Russian ship spotted the Sukru Okan cargo vessel sailing under the flag of Palau and fired the shots after its captain did not respond to demands to stop.

After inspection, the cargo ship was allowed to continue its journey.

On August 2, Russia struck port infrastructure in Izmail, one of the main export routes for Ukrainian agricultural products to neighbouring Romania.