Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said his soldiers had delivered ‘powerful blows’ to Russian forces around Kyiv and urged Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to the devastating war.

Zelensky vowed he would never allow any Ukrainian territory to be given to the Kremlin as reports reveal that 16,000 Russian troops have died in the country.

This comes as an adviser to Ukraine’s ministry of defense Markian Lubkivskyi predicted soldiers could take southern port city Kherson back.

“I believe that today the city will be fully under the control of Ukrainian armed forces,” Mr. Lubkivskyi said.

“We have finished in the last two days the operation in the Kyiv region so other armed forces are now focused on the southern part trying to get free Kherson and some other Ukrainian cities.”

Kherson fell in Russia’s hands earlier this month but a US defense official said Russian control in the city seemed to be waning as Ukrainian soldiers fight back.

“We can’t corroborate exactly who is in control of Kherson but the point is, it doesn’t appear to be as solidly in Russian control as it was before,” the official said, adding that if Ukraine did manage to regain control, Russian forces around Mikolaiv would end up being ‘sandwiched’ between defense forces.

“That would make it very, very difficult for them to make any kind of ground movement on Odesa.

“That would be a significant development, no question about that, in terms of the southern part of the war.”

The Sun also reported that Ukraine is said to be close to major victories in the battle for Kyiv. According to British defense officials, there was now a ‘realistic possibility’ that the towns of Irpin and Bucha would be encircled by Ukrainian troops.

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