Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had visited his troops near Kupiansk on Friday after Kyiv's forces said they had recaptured several settlements nearby in the northeastern Kharkiv Oblast and encircled a Russian group, a rare battlefield gain as Moscow advances elsewhere.

It comes as Ukraine struggles to defend its remaining footholds in eastern cities such as Pokrovsk and Siversk, though it disputes the Kremlin's claims that Russian forces have taken full control of both. The Kremlin has said it will try to take the fifth of Donbas territory still controlled by Ukraine militarily unless Kyiv freely gives it up in a peace settlement.

Russia's slow battlefield advance threatens to further weaken Zelensky's position in peace negotiations and increase the pressure from U.S. P

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