Ukrainian forces launch offensive actions in the east.

Ukrainian forces are conducting "offensive actions" on the front line, according to Kyiv, as the country faces pressure from the West to announce the launch of a long-awaited counteroffensive. Russia claims to have thwarted a major offensive at five points along the front in the southern Ukrainian region of Donetsk and killed hundreds of pro-Kyiv troops. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky faces pressure from Western powers to launch a counteroffensive, but Ukraine has not received the amount of military equipment necessary to take on the more powerful Russian army. NATO wants to bring Sweden into the fold by the time US President Joe Biden and other allied leaders meet in Lithuania on July 11-12, but Turkey and Hungary have yet to endorse the move.