(Reuters) - Russia and Ukraine gave clashing accounts over the weekend about what is going on along the frontline in the Zaporizhzhia region, with Moscow saying it has stopped Kyiv's counter-offensive and Ukraine's army saying it keeps pressing on. Ukraine has retaken a few small villages in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region since the start of its counter-offensive in June, but progress has been small and the vast frontline in the country's east and south has changed little over the past year. Balitsky said that small battles were ongoing near the village of Robotyne and near the village of Shcherbaky, which is about 22 km to the northwest. The Russian defence ministry said in its daily briefing on Sunday that Russian forces have repelled Ukraine's attacks near Verbove and Robotyne. Ukraine's General Stuff also said that Ukrainian forces continued offensive operations in the Melitopol direction, in the western Zaporizhzhia region, "exhausting the enemy all along the frontline" there.

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Persons: Kyiv's, Yevgeny Balitsky, Balitsky, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Valery Zaluzhnyi, Lidia Kelly, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: Reuters, Staff Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia, Moscow, Russian, Robotyne, Shcherbaky, Verbove, Washington, Melbourne