MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian forces are advancing faster in eastern Ukraine than they have done for a long time, taking several square kilometres per day, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday as Moscow's forces tried to smash through a Ukrainian defensive line.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy acknowledged the difficulties in the east, particularly near the city of Pokrovsk, but said Russia's military had made no further advances in the past two days.
Russian forces, which control 18% of Ukraine, have been advancing in eastern Ukraine since the failure of Kyiv's 2023 counter-offensive to achieve a major breakthrough.
Despite a Ukrainian incursion into Russia's southern Kursk region that began on Aug. 6, the numerically stronger Russian army has been thrusting though settlements in eastern Ukraine on the approach to logistically important Pokrovsk.
"We have not had such a pace in the offensive in Donbas (region) for a long time," Putin told children at Secondary School No. 20 in Kyzyl, in the remote region of Tuva, about 4,500 km (2,800 miles) east of Moscow.
"Now we are not talking about moving 200 or 300 metres (660 or 1,000 feet) forward ... The Russian armed forces are already bringing territories under control not by 200 to 300 metres but by square kilometres."
THE EASTERN FRONT
Zelenskiy said Ukraine faced difficulties in confronting "the most combat-focused Russian brigades" on the eastern front.
Addressing journalists in the Ukrainian-held city of Zaporizhzhia alongside Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, he said he had been in discussion about the situation for two days with Commander in Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi.
"In the Pokrovsk sector, no matter how difficult it is, there has been no (Russian) advance for two days," he said.
Military blog DeepState also reported a stabilised situation in villages near Pokrovsk.
Yuri Podolyaka, a Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger, said intense battles were gripping Selydove, 20 km (12 miles) south of Pokrovsk, and Ukrainsk, 14 km south of Selydove.
He said both sides were pushing forces into the battles for the towns, which had populations of over 20,000 and 10,000 respectively before full-scale war began in February 2022.
Russian state news agency TASS said that Ukrainian forces had been driven out of a part of Selydove.
Russian forces have taken control of the village of Skuchne, east of Pokrovsk, Russia's Defence Ministry said on Monday.
Ukraine's General Staff, in an evening account, reported fighting around Selydove and Russian attacks on Ukrainsk.
By pushing south towards the town of Kurakhivka, Russian forces are seeking to break through Ukrainian defensive lines while increasing their sway over the Pokrovsk-Donetsk road and encircling a chunk of territory, Russian bloggers said.
Russia has been trying to expel Ukrainian forces from Kursk region after Kyiv's incursion, designed partly to pressure Russia to scramble forces from other parts of the front.