Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr zelenskyy, has praised his troops for their recent advances against Russian forces in several sections of the front line. Although there is speculation that this may signal the start of Kyiv’s long-awaited counteroffensive, Zelenskyy did not directly address this in his nightly video address on Monday. He did, however, mock Russia’s “hysterical reaction” to every operation undertaken by Ukrainian forces and singled out two units for their skilful and effective defence of Ukraine’s positions. The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, also confirmed that his troops were “moving forward” near Bakhmut. Despite Russia’s claims to have captured the city last month, Ukraine had insisted that its forces retained a small foothold there. While Russia’s military said it had thwarted two large-scale Ukrainian offensives against its forces in eastern Ukraine since Sunday, some pro-Kremlin military bloggers acknowledged that Kyiv’s troops had made some quick gains. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank, also observed increased fighting in different sectors of the front line amid signals from Russian and Ukrainian officials that the counteroffensive has started. Military analysts believe that Ukraine has tried to hide its strategic intentions by launching multiple attacks on several sectors of the front line over recent weeks to force Russia to scatter its resources and distract them from where the main strike would be launched. For months, tens of thousands of Russian troops have been digging in along a front line that stretches for approximately 1,000km (600 miles), bracing for a Ukrainian attack expected to try to cut Russia’s so-called land bridge to the Crimean Peninsula.