Volodymyr Zelensky made the statement in a video address to the nation on Tuesday night, news outlets reported.
The Ukrainian president said: “Of course, the reports on the Donetsk and Luhansk regions evoke particular emotions. We are doing our best to deter enemy attacks there - constant intense assaults, which Russia does not stop, even though it suffers huge losses there.”
He added: “Very importantly, despite all the pressure on our forces, the frontline has not changed. I am grateful for this to all our warriors, all soldiers and sergeants, officers and generals who are defending the respective frontline areas.”
Zelensky’s words came after Russia reported it was advancing towards its main target in the area, Britain’s The Guardian newspaper reported.
Russian forces have launched repeated attacks as they try to capture the entirety of Donetsk and Luhansk, two eastern provinces that make up Ukraine’s industrial Donbas region, according to news outlets.
Russia has made its biggest advances around the long-embattled city of Bakhmut, The Guardian reported.
Russia shells Kherson, killing at least five
Meanwhile, Russian forces on Tuesday shelled the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, killing at least five people and injuring 16, according to The Kyiv Independent website.
The Russian army fired from the Grad multiple launch rocket systems at the centre of the city, and those killed included a 16-year-old girl, according to the regional military administration.
The attack hit Kherson’s residential areas, critical infrastructure facilities, a local market, a kindergarten, a hospital, a bus stop, garages and cars, with several apartments catching fire as a result, The Kyiv Independent reported on Wednesday morning.
Kherson has been subject to constant Russian shelling since it was liberated by Ukrainian troops in November, the website noted.
World ‘more dangerous’ as Russia halts participation in nuclear treaty: NATO chief
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that Russia's decision to suspend its involvement in the New Start nuclear arms control treaty with the United States has made the world “a more dangerous place,” and called on Moscow to reconsider, the Reuters news agency reported.
Stoltenberg made the statement at a news conference at NATO's headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday.
Standing alongside Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, Stoltenberg told reporters: "More nuclear weapons and less arms control makes the world more dangerous."
"I regret the decision by Russia to suspend its participation in the New Start programme," he also stated.
'Putin must not win'
The NATO chief refuted Russian President Vladimir Putin's accusations that the West was trying to destroy his country, stressing that Russia was the aggressor in Ukraine, having invaded it almost a year ago.
Stoltenberg said: "It is President Putin who started this imperial war of conquest ... As Putin made clear today, he's preparing for more war... Putin must not win... It would be dangerous for our own security and the whole world."
Wednesday is day 364 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: president.gov.ua, The Guardian, The Kyiv Independent, Reuters