A 24-year-old foundry worker turned soldier lost both of his legs and an arm when Russian shelling landed by his feet. A 28-year-old IT worker lasted less than two weeks defending the city before a rocket blasted off the lower part of his left leg.

Many see this new phase of the war as crucial to persuading Western allies to renew their support as Kyiv grapples with the fallout from the destruction of a critical dam.

Counterattacking Ukrainian forces have advanced up to 1,400 metres at a number of sections of the front line near the eastern city of Bakhmut in the past day, a military spokesman said on Saturday. The advance is the latest in a series of similar gains reported this week by Kyiv near Bakhmut,

Ukrainian forces seized nearly a mile of land in 24 hours near the eastern town of Bakhmut by exploiting blunders by new Russian troops, military sources said on Friday. Fierce fighting is taking place around the town in the Donetsk province of the eastern Donbas region.

Ukraine claimed Friday that it intercepted a telephone call between Russian soldiers that “confirms” that Moscow’s saboteurs destroyed the Nova Kakhovka dam — as Norwegian seismologists revealed they had detected a possible blast around the time of the dam’s breach.

Claims by pro-Moscow commentators that Ukraine’s counteroffensive has failed are premature, says war monitor think tank.