Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has seen the conflict in the Middle East shift focus from the fighting in his country. He says people are "tired." But he has rejected suggestions the war has reached a "stalemate."
Ukrainian troops launched a counteroffensive in June. But their commander-in-chief, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said last week that they will not likely achieve a breakthrough.
Zelenskyy dismissed those claims on Sunday in an interview with NBC News, rebuffing the idea that Russian troops had forced his side into an impasse. "They thought they would checkmate us," he said. "But this didn't happen."
Russian forces launched another wave of missiles and drones on Monday in an attack on the port city of Odesa, wounding eight people. They also caused significant damage to an art museum.
British defense ministry analysts said the Russians are preoccupied with their battle against the elements, as winter approaches. They said some soldiers returning from the front line reported being "wet from head to toe" for weeks on end and said they were living in "pervasive mud."
Russian officials are hoping to use a new route to resupply the troops. They announced on Monday that they have started construction on a railway line linking the Rostov region through the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine to occupied Crimea.