Kyiv: Russian forces are entrenched in heavily mined areas they control rather than making any progress along the front lines, making it difficult for Ukrainian troops to move east and south, according to Ukrainian officials on Wednesday.

Twelve Ukrainian attacks had been thwarted in the Donetsk region, which has been the focus of Russian advances for months, according to Russian accounts of the fighting on the front lines.

Russian military activity was largely concentrated on airstrikes that destroyed grain infrastructure in Ukraine's Izmail Danube port. A Ukrainian naval drone that attempted to attack a Russian warship that was escorting a civilian ship in the Black Sea was also reportedly destroyed by Russian forces, according to the Russian Defence Ministry.

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In order to cut off a land link between occupied eastern Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula that Russia has annexed, Ukrainian forces launched a campaign to retake occupied areas in June. They have been moving southward towards the Sea of Azov.

Additionally, Kiev claims to have retaken areas close to Bakhmut, an eastern city that Russian forces captured in May after months of fighting.
Hanna Maliar, the deputy minister of defence for Ukraine, claimed that Russian forces had made "quite persistent attempts to halt our advance in the Bakhmut sector." not with success.

She posted on the Telegram messaging app that Russian forces were bolstering equipment and reserves in three locations further to the north, where there had been heavy fighting recently as well.

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Russian forces had plenty of time during their months-long occupation, according to Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine's Security Council, to set up defences and wide-spread minefields.

He declared on public television that "the enemy has prepared very thoroughly for these events." "The quantity of mines on the area that our troops have reclaimed is completely insane. Three, four, or five mines are typically found per square metre.

Danilov reiterated President Volodymyr Zeleskiy's claims that, despite the advances being slower than anticipated, they could not be rushed because human lives were at risk.

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There is no set schedule; we are the only ones who can set deadlines for ourselves, he said. "The phrase counter-offensive has never been used by me. There are military operations, and they involve many variables and are difficult.

In its account of the fighting, the Russian Defence Minister claimed that Ukrainian forces had made vain attempts to advance in a number of sectors in both the southern and northern parts of the Donetsk region.

Additionally, it stated that Kurdyumovka, a town on the southern outskirts of Bakhmut, as well as Chasiv Yar, the first significant town to the west, had been attacked by Russian forces