KYIV - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday praised his troops for advances claimed near the devastated city of Bakhmut, while Russia said it had repelled a large-scale attack.

The contrasting claims came as Pope Francis’ peace envoy, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, arrived in Kyiv for two days of talks.

“Well done, warriors! We see how hysterically Russia reacts to any step we take there, all positions we take. The enemy knows that Ukraine will win,” Mr Zelensky said in a video message published on social media.

Earlier, Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar had noted “some success” on the battlefield.

“The Bakhmut sector remains the epicentre of the hostilities. We are advancing there on a rather wide front,” she said.

“The defensive operation includes counter-offensive actions. Therefore, in some sectors, we are conducting offensive actions,” Ms Malyar added.

In May, Russia said it seized the now-destroyed eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, the scene of the longest and one of the bloodiest battles of the war.

Ukraine says it has been preparing a major offensive to recapture territory lost to Russia, but that there would be no announcement about when it would start.

On Sunday, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that words “can only do harm” and posted a cryptic tweet, quoting lyrics from Depeche Mode’s song Enjoy The Silence.

US President Joe Biden wished Ukraine well on Monday in its expected counter-offensive.

Asked by AFP if he thought the expected Ukrainian pushback would work, the President answered by silently raising his hand and crossing his middle and index fingers.

The war has escalated in recent weeks, with increased attacks on both sides of the border with Russia.

Military experts expect Ukrainian forces to test Russian defences for weaknesses before starting a full-blown offensive.

‘Large-scale offensive’

Earlier on Monday, Russia’s Defence Ministry said “the enemy launched a large-scale offensive in five sectors of the front” on Sunday in the south of the Donetsk region. Large parts of Donetsk have been held by pro-Moscow separatists since 2014. It is one of four eastern Ukrainian territories that Russia formally annexed in September last year, along with Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, despite never fully controlling them.

The ministry posted what it said was a video of the battle, showing Ukrainian armoured vehicles coming under heavy fire.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top commander in Ukraine, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, “was at one of the advanced command posts”, the ministry said. It later said it defeated “new attempts to pierce Russian defences” in southern Donetsk.

The Russian and Ukrainian claims could not be independently verified.

Mr Alexander Kots, a high-profile Russian war correspondent, said “battles have been going on” around Vugledar, in the south of the Donetsk region, and further north in Soledar and Bakhmut, which were occupied by Moscow’s forces after months of fighting.

Mr Kots said Ukrainian forces were “conducting offensive operations” in and around Bakhmut but suggested Kyiv had not yet “introduced the main forces into battle”.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said early on Tuesday that it had thwarted another major offensive by Ukrainian forces in Donetsk, inflicting huge personnel losses and destroying eight main battle Leopard tanks as Kyiv forces pressed on.

“Having suffered heavy losses the day before, the Kiev regime reorganised the remnants of the 23rd and 31st mechanised brigades into separate consolidated units, which continued offensive operations,” the ministry said on its Telegram channel.

“A complex fire defeat was inflicted by army forces, assault and operational-tactical aviation, missile forces and artillery, as well as heavy flamethrower systems.”

In a promotional video released on Sunday and urging silence in regard to any military actions, Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said “the beginning will not be announced”.

Offensive ‘does not exist’

The boss of Russian mercenary group Wagner, Mr Yevgeny Prigozhin, also said on Monday that Ukraine’s troops had made gains near Bakhmut.

Russian troops, he said, were “slowly” leaving the village of Berkhivka near Bakhmut, which he said was a “disgrace”.

He challenged Mr Gerasimov and Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu to come to the front.

In the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, a Moscow-installed official said Ukrainian troops were on the offensive.

The region is home to Europe’s largest nuclear plant and has been partly under Russian control since the start of Moscow’s offensive.

“It looks like the die has been cast and the next couple of months will clear up a lot. The fight will be serious because there is a lot at stake,” said Mr Vladimir Rogov, a Russian occupation official in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said that “Moscow is actively involved in repelling... a global offensive that ‘does not yet exist’”.

Pope’s envoy in Kyiv

The Vatican said Pope Francis’ peace envoy Zuppi, the head of the Italian bishops’ conference, had headed to Kyiv on Monday for talks on the war with the Ukrainian authorities.

Ukraine’s ambassador to the Vatican, Mr Andrii Yurash, said on Twitter that he hoped Cardinal Zuppi’s visit would help find “appropriate answers” for a peaceful solution.

But attacks have in fact intensified in recent weeks, with the latest and most striking being the regular shelling and cross-border incursions from Ukraine in Russia’s southern Belgorod region. The border breaches have been claimed by Russian anti-Kremlin ultra-nationalists. AFP, REUTERS