Ukraine insists its long-awaited summer offensive is gaining ground, but defence officials admit the recaptured territory sometimes amounts to mere metres per day.

Ukrainian troops are advancing in all directions of their counteroffensive against occupying Russian forces, a senior defence official says.

Since the start of the counteroffensive this month, Ukraine says it has reasserted control over clusters of villages in the southeast, although Russia still holds swathes of territory in the east, south and southeast.

“If we talk about the entire frontline, both east and south, we have seized the strategic initiative and are advancing in all directions,” Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar told Ukrainian television on Friday.

Russia, which began its full-scale invasion in February 2022, has not acknowledged the Ukrainian gains and has said Ukraine’s military is suffering heavy casualties.

Maliar said Ukrainian troops were moving “confidently” on the flanks around the devastated eastern city of Bakhmut, which is held by Russian forces, and the main fighting was going on around the city.

In the south, Kyiv’s forces were moving with mixed success and mainly levelling the front line, she said.

Hard-won gains

“In the south, we are moving with varying success – sometimes there are days when it is more than a kilometre, sometimes less than a kilometre, sometimes up to two kilometres,” she said.

She noted the effectiveness of the counteroffensive should be evaluated by “a lot of different military tasks” and not just by advances and the liberation of settlements.

“Therefore, all these tasks are being carried out and only the military can assess this correctly and accurately, and according to their assessment, everything is going according to plan,” she said.

President Voldoymyr Zelenskiy has described the counteroffensive as proceeding more slowly than desired, but said Kyiv would not be pressured into speeding it up.

Ukrainian officials have also said the “main event” of the counteroffensive has yet to start and Ukraine has not yet sent its main troop reserves into combat.

The counteroffensive comes as Ukraine seeks an invitation to begin the process of joining NATO at the military alliance’s summit in Vilnius on July 11-12.

Chief diplomatic adviser Ihor Zhovkva told Reuters that Kyiv wanted the NATO summit to deliver a response to Ukraine’s application for NATO membership filed on September 30 last year.

He said Zelenskiy would not attend if leaders did not show “courage”.

“This application is now on the tables of the leaders of NATO allies,” he said.

All eyes on NATO

“The Vilnius summit would be a very good start to respond to this application – and by respond, we mean invitation for membership, which is only the first stage.”

Kyiv’s allies are divided over how fast Ukraine should join NATO and some Western governments are wary of any move that might take the alliance closer to war with Russia.

In an interview in the heavily guarded president’s office in the Ukrainian capital, the Zelenskiy aide said Kyiv recognised it cannot join the 31-member bloc while Russia is waging war on Ukraine.

“What we are asking for is to start the procedure,” he said.

Zelenskiy has said he sees “no point” in going to the summit if Kyiv is not given a “signal” at the meeting.

His chief of staff said this week Zelenskiy would decide on the eve of the summit whether or not to go.

-with AAP