Russian president Vladimir Putin said a Ukrainian counteroffensive aimed at recapturing territory was “not succeeding” and that attempts to break through Russian defences had failed.
Mr Putin made the remarks in an interview with state television, excerpts of which were released on Sunday.
“All attempts by the enemy to break through our defence ... have not been successful throughout the entire offensive,” Mr Putin said.
Mr Putin also said Russia has a “sufficient stockpile” of cluster munitions, and warned that Russia “reserves the right to take reciprocal action” if Ukraine uses the controversial weapons.
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In his first comments on the delivery of cluster munitions to Ukraine from the United States, the Russian president said Russia has not used cluster bombs in its war in Ukraine so far.
Earlier on Sunday, Moscow said it had thwarted a Ukrainian drone attack attempt near the port of Sevastopol in Crimea.
“This morning, an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack by seven unmanned aerial vehicles and two unmanned semi-submersible boats on objects on the territory of the Crimean peninsula near the city of Sevastopol was thwarted,” the defence ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.
Elsewhere, a civilian was killed and another wounded in Russian shelling in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, while seven were injured in a village in Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday.
A man (33) died and a man was wounded in Russian firing at residential buildings in the village of Kolodiazne in the region overnight, Oleh Sinehubov, Kharkiv’s governor, said on the Telegram messaging app.
He said Russia had launched four surface-to-air missiles overnight at the city of Kharkiv, slightly damaging a residential building.
The Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions in Ukraine’s east and southeast have seen fierce combat throughout much of the 17 months since Moscow invaded its neighbour, with Kyiv’s forces fighting to liberate areas Russian forces now occupy.
Ukraine recaptured much of the eastern Kharkiv region in September, with Russian forces occupying now only a small strip of land there.
Elsewhere, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had shelled the Russian town of Shebekino near the Ukrainian border with Grad missiles, killing a woman riding her bike. – Reuters