He says Moscow controls 99.7% of Luhansk region
Russia has captured 3,500 sq km since March, he says
Aug 30 (Reuters) - Russian forces are waging a non-stop offensive along almost the entire front line in Ukraine and have the "strategic initiative", the chief of Russia's general staff said on Saturday.
"The combined group of troops continues a non-stop offensive along almost the entire front line," General Valery Gerasimov told his deputies in an address published by the Defence Ministry. "At present, the strategic initiative lies entirely with Russian forces."
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But Ukrainian military spokesperson Viktor Trehubov said Kyiv's forces had scored front-line successes, keeping Russian troops from seizing targets in Donetsk region and halting further advances into Dnipropetrovsk region. In one area, he said, Kyiv's troops had surrounded Russian units.
Reuters was unable to independently verify battlefield accounts from either side.
Russia has stepped up airstrikes on Ukrainian towns and cities far behind the front lines this summer and has continued a grinding offensive across much of the east, trying to gain more territory in its 3-1/2-year-old war in Ukraine.
Russian attacks on Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, on Thursday killed 25 people, Ukrainian officials said.
The strikes took place less than two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in Alaska, a meeting that Washington had hoped would advance his efforts to end the conflict.
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