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KYIV — Fierce fighting raged on Thursday in southeastern Ukraine, where a Western official said Kyiv has launched a major push and Russian President Vladimir Putin said "hostilities have intensified significantly."
Battles in recent weeks have taken place on multiple points along the 1,500-kilometer (930-mile) front line as Ukraine wages a counteroffensive with Western-supplied weapons and Western-trained troops against Russian forces who invaded 17 months ago.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]Putin praised the "heroism" with which Russian soldiers were repelling attacks in the Zaporizhzhia region of the southeast, claiming Moscow's troops not only destroyed Ukraine's military equipment but also inflicted heavy losses to Kyiv's forces.
He insisted on state TV Ukraine's push in the area "wasn't successful," although it was not possible to independently verify his report. Putin was in St. Petersburg at a summit of African leaders.
Putin has insisted for weeks that Kyiv's counteroffensive is failing, without providing evidence.
Ukraine has committed thousands of troops in the region in recent days, according to a Western official who was not authorised to comment publicly on the matter.
Since June, Ukraine has been pushing in the area, but it's unclear how the current effort differs from their previous attempts that achieved only incremental gains.
Ukrainian officials have been mostly silent about battlefield developments since they began early counteroffensive operations, although Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said troops are advancing toward the city of Melitopol in the Zaporizhizhia region.
Though that could be a tactical feint, and both governments have used disinformation to gain battlefield advantages, such a maneuver would be in line with what some analysts had predicted.
They envisioned a counteroffensive to punch through the land corridor between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014, toward Melitopol, near the Sea of Azov.
That could split Russian forces into two and cut supply lines to units farther west. Russia currently controls the whole Sea of Azov coast.
The counteroffensive faces deeply entrenched Russian defenses featuring minefields, trenches and anti-tank obstacles.
The Institute of Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, reported that Ukrainian forces launched "a significant mechanized counteroffensive operation in western Zaporizhzhia region" Wednesday and "appear to have broken through certain pre-prepared Russian defensive positions."
It cited Russian sources, including the Russian Ministry of Defense and several prominent Russian military bloggers.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, visited military commanders and workers caring for the wounded north of that region.
He said via a Telegram post that he was in Dnipro, along the Dnieper River to the north of Zaporizhzhia, meeting with military commanders to discuss air defenses, ammunition supplies and supervision over regional recruitment centers.
He also visited a medical facility caring for the wounded from the front, thanking the staff and emphasizing the importance of their work in saving the lives.
A recent increase in the arrival of wounded at one Dnipro hospital hinted that the tempo of nearby fighting had increased.
In what appeared to be a precautionary move, Russia's Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, on Thursday prohibited civilian access to the Arabat Spit in Crimea, a narrow strip of land that links the annexed peninsula to the partially occupied Kherson region. The Kherson region is a key gateway to Crimea.
The open-ended ban is needed to contain security threats, the FSB said in a statement quoted by Russia's state news agency RIA Novosti.
US officials, who have provided Kyiv with weapons and intelligence, declined to comment publicly on the latest developments, though they have previously urged patience as Ukraine seeks to grind down Russian positions.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during a visit to Papua New Guinea that Kyiv's effort to retake land seized by Russia since its full-scale invasion in February 2022 would be tough and long, with successes and setbacks.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said "an intense battle" is taking place but declined to provide details.
"We believe that tools, the equipment, the training, the advice that many of us have shared with Ukrainians over many months puts them in good position to be successful on the ground in recovering more of the territory that Russia has taken from Ukraine," Blinken said in New Zealand.
Meanwhile, a missile strike on Ukraine's southern Odesa region killed one civilian and further damaged the region's port infrastructure, in the latest attack since Moscow broke off a grain export agreement, Odesa Gov. Oleh Kiper reported Thursday.
The attack used Kalibr cruise missiles launched from the Black Sea, he said.
The Ukraine Air Force of Ukraine said Thursday it intercepted 36 Russian missiles launched from Tu-95MS strategic bombers.