KYIV: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied on Saturday that Ukraine's counteroffensive against Russian forces had hit a stalemate, as hours later Kyiv said it had struck a shipyard in the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

The sprawling frontline between the two warring sides has barely moved in almost a year, with one senior Ukrainian official warning this week that the conflict was deadlocked.
'Time has passed, people are tired... But this is not a stalemate,' Zelenskyy told a press conference in Kyiv with EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.
The Ukrainian leader also denied that Western countries were putting pressure on Kyiv to enter negotiations with Russia amid reports US and EU officials had discussed what such talks might entail.
'No one among our partners is pressuring us to sit down with Russia, talk to it, and give it something,' he said.
Zelenskyy was speaking just hours before Kyiv claimed a strike on a shipyard in Kerch, on the east coast of the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Since launching its counteroffensive against Moscow's forces this summer, Kyiv has ramped up attacks on the Black Sea peninsula, which Russia seized in 2014.
Ukraine did not provide further details, and Agence France-Presse was not able to immediately verify Ukraine's account.
Ukrainian air force commander Mykola Oleschuk wrote on Telegram that the shipyard was 'where one of the most modern ships of the Russian Navy was stationed,' capable of carrying powerful supersonic Kalibr missiles.
Crimea's Russian-installed governor Sergei Aksyonov said Ukraine had fired missiles at a shipyard in Kerch earlier but that they had been shot down.
'Some of the debris from the downed missiles fell on the territory of one of the dry docks. There are no casualties,' he said on social media.
The nearby Crimean bridge to the Russian mainland, which has been targeted by Ukrainian forces before, was briefly shut on Saturday for undisclosed reasons.
Ukrainian and Russian attacks in and around the Black Sea have intensified since Moscow's withdrawal from the Black Sea grain deal, which aimed to ensure safe passage to cargo ships.
With the war now in its 20th month and Ukraine struggling to gain ground in its counteroffensive, Zelenskyy has regularly met Western leaders to try to stave off fatigue from the conflict.