Ukraine tank breakthrough in south towards Kherson

Ukrainian troops have broken through Russian positions on the Dnieper river north-east of Kherson, a strategic Russian-held city in southern Ukraine.

The advance was reported by the Russian military and Russian-installed officials in the region. There is heavy Russian defensive fire, they say.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said "there are new liberated settlements in several regions".

In the east, Ukrainian forces pushed into Russian-held Luhansk region.

President Zelensky said "fierce fighting continues in many areas", in his evening address to the nation, but he did not give details.

On Saturday his forces recaptured the important hub town of Lyman in the east, lying near the Luhansk regional border. Russia's military had turned Lyman into a logistical base.

In the south, Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed leader in Kherson, said Ukrainian forces had broken through near Dudchany, a town on the Dnieper about 30km (20 miles) south of the previous front line. The river is called Dnipro by Ukrainians.

"There are settlements that are occupied by Ukrainian forces," Mr Saldo said. Some Russian reports say the Ukrainians have now taken Dudchany.

A Russian defence ministry spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, said "numerically superior" Ukrainian tanks had "driven a deep wedge" south of Zolotaya Balka, a village that marked the previous front line on the Dnieper. He claimed the Russians had killed about 130 Ukrainian troops in that fighting.

According to Mr Saldo, two Ukrainian battalions tried to reach the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, about 70km (44 miles) east of Kherson. The power station is in the port city of Nova Kakhovka.