Ukrainian forces are reinforcing positions they have reached in areas of the southern front line after having "partial success" fighting Russian forces, a military spokesperson said on Wednesday.
Ukrainian forces are conducting offensive operations in the direction of the Russian-occupied cities of Melitopol and Berdiansk in the Zaporizhzhia region, General Staff spokesperson Andriy Kovalev said, listing names of southeastern villages.
"They had partial success in the directions of Novodanilivka - Robotyne, Mala Tokmachka - Verbove, Vilne Pole - Makarivka, they are consolidating at the achieved boundaries," he was quoted as saying by the Ukraine Military Media Center.
Ukraine is also fighting to hold back an advance of Russian troops in the east, with "especially heavy fighting" taking place along near Lyman in the Donetsk region, he said.
Ukraine said on Monday it had recaptured eight villages in two weeks of counteroffensive operations in the occupied south but that the Kremlin's forces were trying to regain the initiative in the east by stepping up attacks.
Indonesian rescuers were searching on Sunday for 130 people from a passenger ship that sank in the Java Sea after 113 others were evacuated, the country's search and rescue agency said, adding that six people had died.
At least five people were wounded in a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Odesa on Sunday morning, officials said, a day after strikes on the city killed two people.
Authorities in the Philippines said on Sunday it could take weeks or months to identify the victims of a ferry fire that killed 76 people, as forensic experts begin collecting and comparing DNA samples and investigators determine the cause.
Saudi Arabia shut its East-West oil pipeline on Friday after it was hit in a drone attack, disrupting a key route used to bypass shipping problems in the Strait of Hormuz.
His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Deputy Prime Minister, has approved an official of the rank of Director-General as the first recipient of the Mohammed bin Rashid Leadership Medal.
Dr Anwar Gargash, diplomatic advisor to the UAE president, on Sunday said the meeting between Abu Dhabi Crown Prince His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Iranian President Dr Masoud Pezeshkian reflects the UAE's stance of "deterrence and diplomacy".