Ukrainian troops creating conditions to advance - commander-in-chief

KYIV (Reuters) - Ukrainian troops are creating conditions to advance forward step-by-step and have the initiative on the battlefield, Ukraine's commander-in-chief said on Monday.

Kyiv's defensive lines are stable with troops repelling Russian attempts to counter-attack and distract Ukrainian forces from other parts of the front, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.

"Heavy fighting is underway, and step-by-step, Ukrainian troops are continuing to create the conditions to advance. The initiative is on our side," Zaluzhnyi said after a telephone call with U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley.

Ukraine launched a counteroffensive at the start of the summer, attempting to retake swathes of territory captured by Russia in the south and east of the country.

The United States and other Western allies have sent Ukraine weapons and trained Ukrainian soldiers to help Kyiv with the offensive.

Ukraine has so far recaptured several villages in the south and some territory around the ruined city of Bakhmut in the east. Kyiv has yet to attempt a major breakthrough across heavily defended Russian lines.

Ukrainian officials have brushed aside criticism that they are advancing slowly, saying they are trying to avoid high casualties as they attack well-fortified Russian lines that are strewn with landmines.

Moscow says the Ukrainian counteroffensive has failed.

Hanna Maliar, Ukraine's deputy defence minister, said Russia was using all its resources to stop Kyiv's advance, but that Ukrainian troops were continuing to move toward the southern cities of Melitopol and Berdyansk on the Sea of Azov.

Zaluzhnyi said Ukraine's defensive lines were strong.

"In some directions, the enemy is conducting active assaults but they are having no success. In particular, it is related to their attempts to distract Ukrainian forces from certain areas of the front," he said.

Maliar said the intensity of the Russian shelling had increased in the east in the past week.

(Reporting by Olena Harmash; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, Tom Balmforth)