The Ukrainian army recorded further territorial gains in the east and south of the country on Monday within its counteroffensive against Russia's ongoing full-scale invasion.
"A total of 2 square kilometres was liberated on the Bakhmut axis during the past week, and a total of 49 square kilometres has already been liberated in the vicinity of Bakhmut," Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar told a press briefing.
Bakhmut, seen as a prize by Moscow, was the site of more than a year of brutal fighting.
In the Zaporizhzhya region, the Russian occupiers had been pushed out of another 1.5 square kilometres south of the village of Robotyne and west of the village of Verbove.
Ukraine has been fending off a full-scale Russian invasion for more than 18 months. Some 14 weeks ago, Kiev launched a long-awaited counteroffensive and has so far recaptured around 250 square kilometres of territory.
But Moscow still controls more than 100,000 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory, including the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which the Kemlin illegally annexed in 2014.
In southern Ukraine, concerns are growing about the safety of Europe's largest reactor due to the presence of Russian soldiers.
Russia's military presence occupying the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant and fighting near the facility pose a security risk, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi has told the organization's board of governors.
Grossi referred to his recent Ukraine report, in which he spoke of a "continued, significant military presence" at the nuclear site and of several military trucks in one of the turbine halls. He also again referred to mines observed between the outer and inner perimeter of the plant.
A team of IAEA observers has been permanently at the plant near the front for a year. So far, the experts have not been given unhindered access to all areas by Russian occupying forces.
Russia announced the capture of the Zaporizhzhya power station in early March 2022. Amid ongoing fighting, damage to buildings and power lines in the course of the war has fuelled concerns about a nuclear accident at what is one of the world's largest nuclear power plants.
Artillery fire can also be heard nearby almost continuously, Grossi said.
"We go day by day in Zaporizhzhya, hoping that there won't be a hit at the plant or that a power supply line will not fall," he added.
As Russia continues its attacks, Moscow may resume production of T-80 tanks, state-owned television channel Zvezda, which is operated by the Defence Ministry, reported on Sunday.
In an interview, Alexander Potapov, the boss of tank-maker Uralvagonzavod, said that his company was tasked with resuming production of T-80 tanks.
Russia has suffered heavy losses during its invasion, losing more than 2,000 tanks, according to investigative group Oryx.
The T-80 was built in the Soviet Union starting in 1976, but in much smaller numbers than the T-72, which was developed before it but still manufactured in parallel. A total of about 10,000 T-80s are said to have rolled off the assembly line before series production was largely halted in favor of the T-90.
It was not clear when production might restart.
German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall meanwhile received another tank order for Ukraine, in the upper double digit million euro range, the company said.
Rheinmetall said it is to repair and modernize 40 old Marder infantry fighting vehicles and deliver them by the end of the year.
The order is being paid for by the German government and will bring the total number of armoured personnel carriers provided by Berlin to 100 by the end of the year.
However, even with more weapons, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky cautioned that this would not bring a "happy end" in the ongoing conflict.
"All of us want success and a happy end," he told US broadcaster CNN, but warned that the war is not a film with a happy ending, referring to those who have been killed since the invasion began.
"We will not have a happy end. We lost a lot of people."
