Ukraine has reported minor early successes in its counteroffensive, saying that its army has recaptured seven villages in the eastern region on Donetsk, spanning a total area of 90 square kilometers (35 square miles).”Seven settlements were liberated” in the last week of fighting in the region, said the country’s defense ministry, including Blahodatne, Neskuchne, Makarivka and Storozheve.It added that Ukrainian forces had advanced “250 to 700 meters” in the direction of the flashpoint eastern city of Bakhmut.Russian officials did not confirm those Ukrainian gains, saying earlier on Monday that Russian forces had repelled attacks in the same area in the Donetsk region near Velyka Novosilka and around the village of Levadne in Zaporizhzhia region.Speaking his nightly address on Monday evening, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, described fighting in the long-awaited counteroffensive as “tough” but added “we are moving forward, this is very important.””I thank our guys for every Ukrainian flag that is now returning to its rightful place in villages on the newly de-occupied territory,” he said.The claims by Moscow and Kyiv could not by verified independently, but the US-based Institute for the Study of War said in an analytical note Monday: “Ukrainian forces made visually verified advances in western Donetsk Oblast and western Zaporizhzhia Oblast, which Russian sources confirmed but sought to downplay.”