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Ukraine took back half of land seized by Russia: US

The Odesa Transfiguration Cathedral was severely damaged in a Russian attack, local officials say.

The Odesa Transfiguration Cathedral was severely damaged in a Russian attack, local officials say. Photo: AAP

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says that while Ukraine has reconquered half the territory that Russia initially seized in its invasion, the country’s forces face a “a very hard fight” to win back more.

“It’s already taken back about 50 per cent of what was initially seized,” Mr Blinken said in an interview with CNN on Sunday.

“These are still relatively early days of the counteroffensive. It is tough,” he said, adding: “It will not play out over the next week or two. We’re still looking I think at several months.”

Late last month, President Volodymyr Zelensky was quoted as saying that the counteroffensive’s progress against Russian forces was “slower than desired”.

Ukraine has recaptured some villages in the south and territory around the ruined city of Bakhmut in the east but has not had a major breakthrough against heavily defended Russian lines.

When asked if Ukraine will get US-made F-16 fighter jets, Mr Blinken said he believed it would.

“And the important focus is on making sure that when they do, they’re properly trained, they’re able to maintain the planes and use them in a smart way.”

A coalition of 11 countries will start training Ukrainian pilots to fly the F-16 fighter jets in August in Denmark, and a training centre will be set up in Romania.

Ukraine has long appealed for the Lockheed Martin-made F-16s but US National Security adviser Jake Sullivan said last month there was no final decision on the United States providing the aircraft.

US officials have estimated it would take at least 18 months for training and delivery of the planes.

The United States has given Ukraine more than $US41 billion ($A61 billion) in military aid since Russia invaded in February 2022.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said a Russian air attack on Ukraine’s southern port of Odesa early on Sunday killed one, injured 19 and badly damaged an Orthodox cathedral.

Odesa: another night attack of the monsters,” Oleh Kiper, governor of the Odesa region, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Fourteen people were hospitalised, he said.

The Spaso-Preobrazhenskyi Cathedral, or the Transfiguration Cathedral, was severely damaged, Odesa’s military administration said.

The cathedral’s archdeacon, Andriy Palchuk, told Reuters the missile strike had started a fire which only affected one corner of the cathedral containing non-historic religious artefacts for purchase by worshippers.

“When the right altar chapel – of the most sacred part of the cathedral – was hit, a missile piece flew through the whole cathedral and hit the area where we display icons, candles and books for purchase,” he said.

President Zelensky condemned Sunday’s attack and vowed payback.

“There can be no excuse for Russian evil. As always, this evil will lose. And there will definitely be a retaliation to Russian terrorists for Odesa. They will feel this retaliation,” he said on Twitter.

In its daily briefing, Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had struck targets “where terrorist attacks were being prepared” in the Odesa area and that all targets had been destroyed.

Separately, the ministry said Ukrainian reports of a Russian strike on the cathedral were false, and that its targets in Odesa were located “a safe distance” from the cathedral complex.

It said that the “probable cause” of the damage to the cathedral was a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile.

Ukraine’s air force said on its Telegram channel early on Sunday that Russia launched high-precision Onyx missiles and sea-to-shore Kalibr cruise missiles on Odesa.

The city’s military administration said that air defence systems destroyed nine out of 19 missiles fired at Odesa and the surrounding region.

The cathedral that was hit on Sunday is of the Russian-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), Ukraine’s second-largest Church.

Most Ukrainian Orthodox believers belong to a separate branch of the faith formed four years ago by uniting branches independent of Russian authority.

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