Russia says it has repelled numerous Ukrainian attacks along front line

Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a meeting on the implementation of the development program for the cities of Anadyr, Magadan and Yakutsk in the Russian Far East, via video link in Sochi, Russia September 5, 2023. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS/File photo

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Friday it had repelled numerous Ukrainian attacks along the front line and inflicted hundreds of losses on enemy forces, challenging Kyiv's assertion that Ukraine was making slow but steady progress in a counteroffensive.

Russia controls about 18% of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea which it annexed in 2014 and a swathe of eastern and southern Ukraine which it took control of in 2022.