Ukraine's army has recaptured around "2,000 kilometers of territory" in September, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on the 10th of the month, adding that the Russian army was doing the right thing in fleeing the counter-offensive.

"For the moment, since the beginning of September, around 2,000 kilometers have been liberated," said Zelensky in his evening address.

He did not specify whether he was talking about square kilometers, but on 8 September, the army's commander-in-chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said their troops had recaptured 1,000 square kilometers (nearly 400 square miles) of territory from Russian forces.

"These last days, the Russian army has shown us its best (side) — its back," Zelensky added. "After all, it's a good choice for them to flee.

"There is no place in Ukraine for the occupiers. There never will be."

Ukraine's army announced a counter-offensive at the beginning of the month before making a dramatic break through Russian lines in the northeast this week, in the Kharkiv region.