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Ukrainian and Russian forces are locked in fierce battles in multiple locations on the front line as Kyiv is continuing its counteroffensive in the south, the military said on July 10, as Moscow's incessant shelling continued to claim victims among Ukrainian civilians.
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The intense fighting comes as NATO is preparing to hold a key summit this week in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, where the war in Ukraine and the alliance's ties with Kyiv are expected to take center stage. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's participation in the summit has not yet been officially confirmed.
Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said Ukrainian forces are consolidating gains made in the southern directions of Melitopol and Berdyansk, where "hot battles" are under way.
"Our troops conduct aerial reconnaissance and demining of the area, employing artillery fire on identified enemy targets...in readiness for the continuation of our offensive actions," Malyar said on Telegram.
Malyar added that in the eastern region of Donetsk, Russian forces were on the defensive in Bakhmut, while heavy fighting was also under way in Lyman, Avdiyivka, and Maryinka, where the General Staff reported more than 30 combat clashes over the previous 24 hours.
At least four people were killed and 13 others were wounded when Russian shelling hit an aid distribution center in Orikhiv, a town on the front line in the southern region of Zaporizhzhya, regional Governor Yuriy Malashko said on July 10.
Russian forces carried out a total of 36 air strikes on 10 civilian settlements in the Zaporizhzhya region over the past 24 hours, Malahsko added.
Orikhiv, a town with a prewar population of almost 14,000 people, is located some 60 kilometers from the region's capital, Zaporizhzhya. It has been regularly subjected to Russian shelling.
In Lyman, Russian shelling killed nine civilians and wounded 12 others, Ukrainian officials said on July 9.
Early on July 10, Russian troops used ballistic missiles in a strike on the southern city of Mykolayiv, regional Governor Vitaly Kim said on Telegram, causing damage to civilian infrastructure.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said late on July 9 that they had spoken to discuss this week's NATO summit and Kyiv's counteroffensive.
"I had an important discussion with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba today ahead of this week's NATO Summit," Blinken said on Twitter.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement that the two diplomats also discussed "progress in Ukraine's counteroffensive."
Kuleba said on Twitter that the call was to work out details ahead of the NATO summit, which starts on July 11 in Vilnius.
Meanwhile, a Western think tank reported that Russia had failed to achieve any of the goals of its massive invasion after more than 500 days of fighting.
The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) on July 8 issued an assessment that said “determined and skillful Ukrainian resistance” had prevented Moscow from achieving any of the goals of its original February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
It noted that Kyiv has launched a counteroffensive “along most of the front line,” adding that Russian forces were now “focused almost entirely on trying to hold on to the Ukrainian lands they still occupy.”
WATCH: When Ukrainian troops liberated the village of Neskuchne in the Donetsk region, they found the area covered in land mines left by retreating Russian forces. Heavily entrenched enemy positions have been slowing Ukraine's ongoing counteroffensive.
Ahead of the crucial NATO summit set to start on July 11 in Vilnius, Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Oleksiy Makeyev said his government expects “a clear and unequivocal invitation and direction to join NATO.”
“The only way to put an end to Russian aggression against Europe is to send a strong signal from the 2023 NATO summit, which has every opportunity of going down in the history of cohesion,” he said.
“Our membership does not mean escalation,” he added, “but the path to peace.”
Zelenskiy's participation in the summit remained in doubt, according to Olha Stefanyshyna, Ukraine's deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration.
"No decisions have been made yet," Stefanyshyna said in an interview with Ukrainian media, adding that Zelenskiy traveling to Vilnius depended on the commitments the alliance will make at the summit with regard to Ukraine.
In an interview on July 9, U.S. President Joe Biden told CNN that Ukraine would not be extended membership until the war with Russia was over.
“For example, if you did that, then, you know -- and I mean what I say -- we’re determined to commit every inch of territory that is NATO territory. It’s a commitment that we’ve all made no matter what. If the war is going on, then we’re all in war. We’re at war with Russia, if that were the case.”
With reporting by Reuters
Source: Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
