Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the country's armed forces are advancing in parts of the country, noting last night that "our forces are in a state of active defense — in some parts of the east and south, we are gradually pushing back the enemy. We are gradually moving forward."
He said the Donetsk part of the eastern Donbas "remains the epicenter of the greatest madness of the occupiers" and that Russian soldiers were dying "by the hundreds" every day.
In other news, White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan confirmed reports that the U.S. had talked to the Kremlin recently in a bid to lower the rhetoric around the possible use of nuclear weapons.
Speaking at an event at the Economic Club of New York on Monday, Sullivan did not say he had been engaged in direct talks but noted he had said repeatedly that "we have channels to communicate with the Russian Federation at senior levels," Reuters reported.