Ukraine said on Thursday that it has recaptured swathes of territory from Russian troops in the country's south as discontent mounted within Russia about the handling of the war. Ukrainian forces have retaken more than 500sq km (195sq miles) of territory and dozens of settlements in the southern Kherson region alone since Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. In a video address, he said there have also been more military successes in the east. The battlefield victories reported in Kherson are the latest in a series of Russian defeats undermining the Kremlin's claim to have annexed about 20 percent of Ukraine. Southern army command spokeswoman Natalia Gumeniuk said the recaptured territory was home to nearly 30 towns and villages that had been occupied by Russian forces for months.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin signed treaties Friday to annex occupied areas of Ukraine and said he would use "all available means" to protect the territory that Ukrainian and Western officials said Russia was claiming illegitimately and in violation of international law. In a speech preceding the treaty-signing ceremony, Putin urged Ukraine to sit down for talks to end the seven months of fighting that started when he ordered his troops to invade the neighboring country. But he warned that Russia would never give up the absorbed regions and would protect them as part of its sovereign territory. The ceremony came three days after the completion of Kremlin-orchestrated "referendums" on joining Russia that were dismissed by Kyiv and the West as a bare-faced land grab held at gunpoint and based on lies. Putin said Ukrainian authorities should "treat … with respect" the lopsided results of the Moscow-managed votes and warned sternly that Russia would never surrender control of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed treaties Friday to annex occupied areas of Ukraine and said he would use "all available means" to protect the territory that Ukrainian and Western officials said Russia was claiming illegitimately and in violation of international law. In a speech preceding the treaty-signing ceremony, Putin urged Ukraine to sit down for talks to end the seven months of fighting that started when he ordered his troops to invade the neighboring country. But he warned that Russia would never give up the absorbed regions and would protect them as part of its sovereign territory. The ceremony came three days after the completion of Kremlin-orchestrated "referendums" on joining Russia that were dismissed by Kyiv and the West as a bare-faced land grab held at gunpoint and based on lies. Putin said Ukrainian authorities should "treat ... with respect" the lopsided results of the Moscow-managed votes and warned sternly that Russia would never surrender control of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Russia says its forces have battled oncoming Ukraine troops to a standstill in the country's south and inflicted "significant losses". Russian soldiers held their positions during "fierce fighting" in the Kherson region and Ukrainian troops were also targeted in the eastern region of Donetsk, Russia's defence ministry said on Sunday. "The enemy made attempts to break through the defence of the Russian troops in the areas of Koshara and Pyatykhatky in the Kherson region with forces of up to three battalions, including one tank battalion," chief defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said. "The Russian army units held their positions in fierce battles, inflicting significant losses on the enemy," he said. Al Jazeera could not independently verify the battlefield reports.

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday he expects a mobilization of army reservists he ordered last month to bolster his country's troops in Ukraine to be completed in two weeks. Putin told reporters after attending a summit in Kazakhstan that 222,000 of the 300,000 reservists the Russian Defense Ministry said would get called up have been mobilized. A total of 33,000 of them are already in military units and 16,000 are involved in combat, he said.