Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had visited two cities very close to one of the most active frontlines between his country's troops and Russian forces, where a regional official said the situation had worsened for the Ukrainian side, Reuters reported.
Ukrainian forces had suffered a slight reversal of fortunes after managing to retake half of the city of Sievierodonetsk, the main battlefield in the east where Russia has concentrated its forces, Serhiy Gaidai, governor of Luhansk province where the city is located, told national television.
Gaidai did not go into details but said the Ukrainian troops were still holding their positions in the city's industrial zone.
"The fiercest fighting is in Sievierodonetsk. Fast-moving fighting is happening right now," he said.
Zelenskiy said he had travelled to Lysychansk, south of Sievierodonetsk, and Soledar - rare outings for him outside Kyiv since the start of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24 and possibly the closest to the frontline yet.
"What you all deserve is victory - that is the most important thing. But not at any cost," Zelenskiy, wearing his trademark khaki T-shirt, told Ukrainian troops in a video released on Sunday night.
Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk are in the Luhansk region and Soledar is in the Donetsk region. Together they make up the Donbas, Ukraine's industrial heartland, which Russia says it is on a mission to "liberate".
Moscow has focused most of its firepower on the Donbas after Ukraine pushed its troops back from Kyiv and Ukraine's second biggest city Kharkiv.
Russian forces were fortifying their positions in the Kharkiv region and "conducting intensive artillery and mortar shelling of our positions" to keep hold of the territory they had occupied, Ukraine's military general staff said on Monday.
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