Russia said Monday its troops had advanced three kilometres (two miles) along the Kupiansk front in northeast Ukraine over the last three days, as it seeks to regain territories it lost earlier in its offensive.

The city of Kupiansk and surrounding areas of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region were liberated by Ukrainian forces last September, but Moscow has since renewed its assault on the region.

“Over the past three days, the advance of Russian troops… amounted to 11 kilometres along the front and more than three kilometres deep into the enemy’s defence,” Moscow’s defence ministry said.

It said that it had “improved” its standing along the front line in the area and that it continued to repel Ukrainian counter-attacks.

Russia carried out several waves of attacks on Ukraine overnight, while Kyiv hit bridges in its occupied territories on Sunday.