ALJAZEERA News: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Russian soldiers to flee for their lives after his forces launched an offensive<\/a> to retake southern Ukraine, but Moscow said it had repulsed the attack and inflicted heavy losses on Kyiv\u2019s troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ukraine said on Monday its ground forces had gone on the offensive for the first time after a long period of aerial raids on Russian supply lines, especially ammunition dumps and bridges across the strategically important River Dnieper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf they want to survive, it\u2019s time for the Russian military to run away. Go home,\u201d Zelenskyy said in a late-night address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUkraine is taking back its own [land],\u201d he said, adding that he would not disclose Kyiv\u2019s battle plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In response, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that Russia was methodically pressing on with its plans in Ukraine, adding: \u201cAll of our goals will be reached.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Ukrainian counterattack comes after several weeks of relative deadlock in a war that has killed thousands, displaced millions, destroyed cities and fuelled a global energy<\/a> and food crisis<\/a> amid unprecedented Western economic sanctions<\/a> on Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Russia captured large tracts of southern Ukraine near the Black Sea coast in the early weeks of the six-month-old war, including in the Kherson region, which lies north of the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n