President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has called the combat situation in Donbas "the most difficult."

"The most difficult combat situation in Donbas now is Bakhmut, Popasna, Severodonetsk. In this direction, the occupiers concentrated the greatest activity at this time. They have staged a massacre there and are trying to destroy all living things. No one has destroyed Donbas the way the Russian military is doing it today," he said in a traditional video message on Monday evening.

He noted that "the Russian occupiers are trying very hard to show that they allegedly will neither give up the occupied areas of Kharkiv region, nor Kherson region, nor the occupied territory of Zaporizhia region and Donbas. They are advancing somewhere, pulling up reserves somewhere, trying to strengthen the position."

"The coming weeks of the war will be difficult, but we have no alternative but to fight," Zelensky said.