Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he traveled Thursday to the northeastern city of Kharkiv to meet with military officials amid a Russian offensive in the region.
Zelenskyy said on Telegram that the situation in Kharkiv is extremely difficult, but generally under control.
"The direction remains extremely difficult — we are strengthening our units," Zelenskyy said following a meeting in the city with his top commander and senior military leaders.
Russia has claimed several villages in the Kharkiv region in recent days, and the Russian advances prompted Zelenskyy to cancel several planned foreign visits.
During the visit to Kharkiv, Zelenskyy met injured soldiers recovering at a medical facility. He also took photographs with troops at another site.
Later, during Zelenskyy's nightly video address, the president said the country has "achieved more certainty" near Vovchansk, about 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) inside the border.
"But the Russian shelling is not stopping," he also said. "Threats persist."
Ukraine says Kharkiv situation stabilized
Ukraine's military said Thursday that while the situation in Kharkiv remains complicated, Ukrainian forces had stabilized the situation and halted Russia's advance in certain areas.
But regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said Thursday that Russian forces had "not given up" on capturing the town of Vovchansk.
"Our task at the moment is to stabilize the front line," Syniehubov said.
Top NATO commander Christopher Cavoli said on Thursday that he believed Ukrainian troops would be able to hold their lines in the region because he did not think Russia had deployed enough troops to make a breakthrough.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, said on Wednesday that Moscow's forces were improving their positions every day along the front in Ukraine in all directions.
Zelenskyy asks for defense systems
The developments in Kharkiv follow a two-day visit to Ukraine by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during which Zelenskyy asked for air defense systems to help protect Kharkiv.
Blinken announced $2 billion in military aid for Ukraine as part of a $61 billion package that was approved last month.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon announced Thursday that the State Department has approved the potential sale of support for U.S. Army-supplied systems to Ukraine for an estimated $100 million.
Russia's Defense Ministry said Thursday its air defenses destroyed five tactical missiles and multiple drones over Russia-occupied Crimea, as well as drones over the Belgorod, Bryansk, Kaluga and Tula regions.
When finance ministers from the Group of Seven, or G7, major democracies meet in Italy next week, they plan to support a European Union plan to use the profits from frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine in the war, an Italian treasury official said Thursday.
After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the G7 froze around $300 billion worth of Russian financial assets.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
