Russia no longer has full control of any of four ‘annexed’ Ukrainian provinces

Russia no longer has full control of any of the four provinces of Ukraine it says it annexed last week after Ukrainian troops reportedly advanced dozens of kilometres in Kherson province in the south of the country and made additional gains in the east.

On Monday, the Russian military acknowledged that Kyiv's forces had broken through in the Kherson region. It said the Ukrainian army and its "superior tank units" had managed to "penetrate the depths of our defence" around the villages of Zoltaya Balka and Alexsandrovka.

The ministry of defence spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said Russian troops had occupied what he called a "pre-prepared defensive line". They continued to "inflict massive fire damage" on Ukrainian forces, he claimed.

His comments are an admission that Ukraine's southern counter-offensive is dramatically gaining pace, two months after it began. Ukrainian brigades appear to have achieved their biggest breakthrough in the region since the war started, bursting through the frontline and advancing rapidly along the Dnieper River.

Kyiv gave no official confirmation of the gains. Russian sources acknowledged that the Ukrainian tank offensive had moved along the river's west bank, recapturing a number of villages along the way, and threatening the supply lines for thousands of marooned Russian troops.

Speaking overnight, Zelenskiy said Ukraine's 129th brigade from his home city of Kryvyi Rih had liberated the settlements of Arkhanhelske and Myrolyubivka in the northern Kherson region. The brigade's soldiers flew a blue and yellow flag in Myrolyubivka from a shell-damaged roof.

Russian military bloggers suggested Ukraine's advance was spectacular. They claimed Kyiv's troops were close to Dudchany, about 20 miles (30km) south of where the front stood before the breakthrough, indicating one of the fastest advances of the war.