Ukrainian forces reported heavy Russian shelling and attempted offensives on several towns in the eastern Donetsk region, which has become a flashpoint in the nearly six-month war, but said they had repelled many of those attacks, Reuters reported.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine also announced that Russia had shelled more than 12 cities on the southern front – especially the Kherson region, which is partially occupied by Russian troops, but where Ukrainian troops are gradually recovering the territory.

On Monday, the spokesperson of the Southern Military Command of Ukraine, Natalia Humenyuk, said that the situation is difficult, but under control.

“The enemy does not dare to advance on land, but is shelling the rear areas with artillery and rockets,” Nataliya Humenyuk said.

Answering a question about Sunday’s shelling by Ukrainians of the Antoniv bridge in the Kherson region, she said that Ukrainian forces continue to shell Russia’s supply routes.

“Over the past week, we have destroyed more than 10 warehouses. The damage we caused does not allow us to move heavy equipment. After we destroyed the command posts, their commanders moved to the left bank of the Dnieper,” Humenyuk noted.

Ukraine is trying to return Zaporozhye

Much attention has been focused on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine amid fears of a disaster following new bombings in recent days, which Russia and Ukraine blame each other for.

“The Russians believe that they can force the world to fulfill their conditions by bombing the Zaporizhzhya NPP,” Andriy Yermak, the head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine, wrote on Twitter.

“This will not happen. Instead, our military will punish them with a precise strike on the sore spots,” Yermak said.

Ukraine, where parliament on Monday extended martial law for another three months, has said for weeks it is planning a counteroffensive to retake Zaporizhzhia and neighboring Kherson region, much of the territory Russia seized after the February 24 invasion and still holds.