"Do you believe us now?" VIDEO

"Do you believe us now?" VIDEO

Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Ukrainian forces "liberated dozens of settlements" and regained 1,000 square km of territory in the east and south since September 1.

In his speech on Thursday, Zelensky also released a video in which Ukrainian soldiers claim to have captured the town of Balakliia near Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, Reuters reports.

A video posted on a site that collects Ukrainian news shows that Russian forces have left behind trucks, artillery and ammunition, according to the British agency.

Earlier, a senior Ukrainian official, General Alexei Gromov, announced that the Ukrainian armed forces had advanced nearly 50 km towards Russian lines and that "the total territory returned to Ukrainian control in the direction of Kharkiv and the Yuzhny Bukh River is more than 700 square kilometers".

Gromov said that Ukrainian troops advanced up to 3 km on the Slavyansk front in the east and retook the village of Ozerne.

This is the first time that Kyiv has announced the details of its counteroffensive since last week so as not to jeopardize the further course of the operation, according to Reuters.