Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has acknowledged the past week was "difficult on the frontline." But he wrote on social media on Monday that his forces are making progress.

Zelenskyy has said the troops need to "show results" before a NATO summit next week in Vilnius, Lithuania. He is expected to call again on his allies for military support. In an interview with CNN, he said the mutiny last month by the Wagner mercenary group "greatly affected Russian power on the battlefield" and shows President Vladimir Putin's power is "crumbling."

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said plans to destabilize Russia have "failed." He told officials at a meeting of his ministry that the mutiny "did not have any impact" on the actions of troops in Ukraine.

Putin met with his top election official, Ella Pamfilova, to discuss parts of eastern Ukraine he annexed last year. The front line runs through all four of those areas. Pamfilova told him the "situation could deteriorate dramatically" and local elections scheduled for September may have to be cancelled