��������

Ukrainian troops pressed on with a frontline counteroffensive around two cities in the east of the country on Friday, with President Volodymyr Zelensky saying heavy losses were being inflicted on Russian forces.
Russia said its forces had captured two new villages in their slow advance through Ukraine’s east and south, but its Defense Ministry made no reference to the Ukrainian drive near the towns of Pokrovsk and Dobropillia.
Zelensky, in his nightly video address, said the counteroffensive had disrupted Russian plans in their longstanding objective of seizing the logistics center of Pokrovsk.
“It was there that one of the most important directions of the Russian offensive was located, and they were unable to launch a full-fledged offensive there. Our military is destroying their forces,” Zelensky said.
“The Russians have suffered significant losses, and the ‘exchange fund’ for our country has been significantly replenished — every day more Russian prisoners are being taken.”
Ukraine’s top commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, wrote on Telegram that his forces had advanced from three to seven km  through Russian defenses.
In his video address, Zelensky also said Ukrainian forces were holding their positions around Kupiansk — an area of Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region that has been subject to Russian assaults for months.
On Thursday, Zelensky said Ukrainian forces had recaptured seven settlements and 160 square km  around Pokrovsk and Dobropillia since the operation began. Another nine settlements had been “cleared” of enemy forces.
The Donetsk region, which is only partially occupied by Russia but which Moscow wants Kyiv to abandon before any peace settlement, remains the site of the most intense fighting.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces had seized two more localities — Muravka, southwest of Pokrovsk, and Novoivanivka, further southwest in the Zaporizhzhia region.
The general staff of Ukraine’s military listed Muravka as one of several settlements where its forces had halted 87 attacks near Pokrovsk.
A senior official in the Russia-appointed administration in areas of the Donetsk region held by Moscow told Russia’s TASS news agency that Russian forces now had effective control of all roads and other logistics around Pokrovsk.
Reuters could not independently verify battlefield reports from either side.

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump hailed Friday what he called progress with Chinese President Xi Jinping including on selling blockbuster app TikTok, and said he would visit the Asian power, which offered a more cautious assessment of their talks.
The leaders of the world’s two largest economies spoke by telephone for the second time since the return to the White House of Trump, who has tried to keep a lid on tensions despite his once virulent criticism of China.
The United States has forcefully sought to take out of Chinese hands TikTok, the social media platform hugely popular with young Americans that the Republican mogul has turned to himself to garner support.
Trump said that Xi “approved” the deal during the phone call but then said, “We have to get it signed.” China did not confirm any agreement.
“We’re going to have a very, very tight control,” Trump said. “There’s tremendous value with TikTok, and I’m a little prejudiced because I frankly did so well on it.”
He also said that Xi promised to work with the United States on ending the war in Ukraine, where China has offered crucial indirect support to Russia.
Trump earlier in a post on Truth Social said that he and Xi “made progress on many very important issues” including TikTok.
He said he would meet Xi on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit in South Korea starting at the end of next month and that he would travel to China next year.
Trump said Xi would also visit the United States at an unspecified time and that the two leaders would speak again by telephone.

China offered a sterner take on the talks.
“On the TikTok issue, Xi noted that China’s position is clear: the Chinese government respects the will of enterprises and welcomes them to conduct business negotiations based on market rules, to reach solutions that balance interests and comply with Chinese laws and regulations,” a statement said.
“China hopes the US side will provide an open, fair, and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies investing in the United States.”
It described the call as “frank and in-depth.”
The US Congress last year during Joe Biden’s presidency passed a law to force TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to sell its US operations for national security reasons or face the ban of the app.
US policymakers, including in Trump’s first term, have warned that China could use TikTok to mine data from Americans or exert influence on what they see on social media.
But Trump, an avid social media user, on Tuesday once again put off a ban of the app.
Investors reportedly being eyed to take over the app include Oracle, the tech firm owned by Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Ellison is a supporter of Trump, meaning TikTok would be the latest media or social media app to come under the control or influence of the president.

Wendy Cutler, a former US trade official who is now senior vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute, said that many details remained unclear including who would control the algorithm powering TikTok, and that many other irritants remained.
“Beijing is displaying a willingness to play hardball, and a need to get paid by Washington for any concessions it makes,” she said.
Trump while on the campaign trail bashed China relentlessly as an enemy but since returning to office has spoken of his strong relationship with Xi.
Both sides dramatically hiked tariffs against each other during a months-long dispute earlier this year, disrupting global supply chains.
Washington and Beijing reached a deal to reduce levies, which expires in November, with the United States imposing 30 percent duties on imports of Chinese goods and China hitting US products with a 10 percent tariff.
The phone talks come after Trump accused Xi of conspiring against the United States with a major military parade to mark the end of World War II that brought the leaders of Russia and North Korea.
The Chinese statement said Xi voiced appreciation to Trump for the US role in World War II.