KYIV: Ukraine said on Monday its forces had recaptured small clutches of land from Russian forces along the southern front and near the war-battered city of Bakhmut, areas where Kyiv's troops have focused their slow-moving counteroffensive.

Kyiv launched its bid to wrest back territory controlled by Moscow in June after stockpiling Western-supplied weapons and recruiting assault battalions. Its efforts have focused on Bakhmut, in the eastern Donetsk region, as well as several points along the frontline in the south, toward the Crimean Peninsula.