3 Offensives Launched as Ukraine Claims Strongest Battlefield Position

Ukraine says it is taking back ground.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that Ukrainian forces have launched a series of counteroffensives and that the military now occupies its strongest battlefield position in some time. The account drew on reports from senior commanders. Zelenskyy disclosed for the first time an operation designated "Veles," which employs pipelines in Ukraine's northeast. He also cited an air assault in eastern Ukraine and a northern effort called "Vivaldi." The two latter operations aim to halt Russian advances in contested sectors.

The military claims arrived alongside renewed strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure. A localized ceasefire in the south appeared to hold, though Russian attacks overnight damaged a university campus and Kyiv's Southern Bridge. Zelenskyy labeled the strike "a serious escalation" directed at logistics. A Ukrainian military source told Reuters that Russia fired four Iskander ballistic missiles at the bridge. Attacks also struck energy, logistics, and infrastructure sites across 10 other regions.

Kyiv's mayor announced the city will reserve 1 billion hryvnias, about $22 million, to construct water crossings spanning the River Dnipro as Russia increases pressure on bridges. Diplomacy ran parallel to the fighting. Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere called Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday and asked him to end the war. The conversation followed a decision by US President Donald Trump to buy Russian diesel, a move that pushed relations with Ukraine to their lowest level in 18 months.

Elsewhere, Romania moved against what it called a Russian plot. President Nicusor Dan called an alleged sabotage effort last month a "grave violation" of the NATO member's sovereignty, days after the intelligence service reported identifying a Russia-coordinated network tied to a fire in central Brasov County. Investigators are examining three foreign nationals, two Belarusians and one Ukrainian, all resident in EU countries. Romania's foreign ministry summoned Russia's ambassador in Bucharest on Tuesday; the embassy said the envoy rejected the "baseless" accusations. France relocated a maritime patrol aircraft to Romania to watch for navigation hazards near Black Sea energy infrastructure. At least eight cargo ships have been struck off Romania and Bulgaria in three weeks, leaving about 34 sailors dead or missing.

Poland will house a maintenance center for the US-made Patriot air-defense system, deputy defence minister Sobkowiak-Czarnecka said on social media, marking the only such facility outside the United States. Pope Leo XIV's chief almsgiver, Monsignor Luis Marin de San Martin, began a three-day trip to Ukraine on Tuesday carrying truckloads of winter clothing, blankets, and food for distribution in Kyiv.