Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine's long-awaited counteroffensive against Russia's invasion force had yet to start, even as his generals claimed some of their biggest battlefield successes in months.
Kyiv said it had pushed Russian forces back over the past several days near the eastern city of Bakhmut in local assaults, while a full-blown counteroffensive involving tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of Western tanks is still being prepared.
"We still need a bit more time," Mr Zelensky said in an interview with European broadcasters.
Ukrainian forces had already received enough equipment from Western allies for their campaign but were waiting for the full complement of armoured vehicles to arrive to reduce their casualties, he said.
In a major step up in Western military support for Ukraine, Britain announced it was sending Storm Shadow cruise missiles that would give Kyiv the ability to strike targets deep behind Russian lines.
Western countries including the United States had previously held back from providing long range weapons for fear of provoking Russian retaliation.
The war in Ukraine is at a turning point, with Kyiv poised to unleash its new counterstrike after six months of keeping its forces on the defensive, while Russia mounted a huge winter offensive that failed to capture significant territory.
Moscow's main target for months has been Bakhmut, which it has yet to fully capture despite the bloodiest ground combat in Europe since World War II.
The head of Russia's Wagner private army, which has led the fight in Bakhmut, has acknowledged Ukrainian gains against regular Russian forces on the city's flanks for several days, while complaining of a lack of support for his men.
Ukrainian operations were "unfortunately, partially successful", Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said on social media, calling Mr Zelensky's assertion that the counteroffensive had not yet begun "deceptive".
He said on Tuesday that a Russian brigade had fled from the trenches, giving up a swathe of land southwest of Bakhmut.
A Ukrainian unit claimed to have routed the brigade, destroying two of its companies.
The commander of Ukraine's ground forces said yesterday that Russian forces had retreated in places by as much as 2km. Ukraine has boasted of few similar advances since its last big offensive last November.
Russia's military has not acknowledged the setback.
In its regular daily briefing, the defence ministry said Russian troops were continuing to assault the western part of Bakhmut, with paratroopers pinning down Ukrainian army units on the flanks.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov acknowledged that the war was "very difficult". He said he had no doubt that Bakhmut "will be captured and will be kept under control".
Managing expectations
Western allies are sending hundreds of tanks and armoured vehicles to Ukraine for its counteroffensive and have trained thousands of Ukrainian troops abroad.
In anticipation of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, Russia has resumed air strikes on Ukraine over the past two weeks after a lull of nearly two months.
Moscow says Ukraine has used drones to strike occupied areas and Russian territory near the border.
In the latest report, the governor of Russia's Bryansk region bordering Ukraine said a drone had hit a fuel storage depot. No one was hurt. Kyiv does not comment on such incidents.
Some Ukrainian officials have tried to manage expectations for their counteroffensive, cautioning against expecting a swift repeat of Ukraine's big military successes last year, when it pushed Russian forces back from Kyiv's outskirts and recaptured swathes of occupied territory in unexpected breakthroughs.
