On Thursday, Russian forces targeted military and civilian facilities in several Ukrainian regions, including near the capital, Kyiv, which resulted in at least 8 dead and 30 wounded, while the battles continue in the vicinity of the strategic city of Kherson that Kyiv is trying to regain.

At the same time, the Russian "TASS" news agency quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's agenda is currently filled with international contacts, and noted that Lavrov will fulfill Blinken's request for a conversation "when time permits."

On Wednesday, Blinken announced that he intends to make a phone call with Lavrov soon, for the first time since the start of the Ukraine war, to discuss the issue of the release of two Americans detained by Russia.

"I intend to raise a priority issue for us: the release of Americans Paul Whelan and Britney Greiner, who have been wrongly arrested, and should be allowed to return home," Blinken told reporters at the State Department.

Blinken (right) expressed his desire to talk with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, about American prisoners in Moscow (Al-Jazeera)

Kherson

On the ground, the Ukrainian army boosted its hopes Thursday that parts of the south of the country could be restored, stressing progress in isolating Russian forces.

The Kyiv operation focuses on retaking the Kherson region, north of Crimea.

Russian forces captured the main city in the region, also called Kherson, days after the start of the offensive on Ukraine on February 24.

British intelligence said Thursday in a report that Ukrainian forces, with the help of artillery supplied by the West, had damaged at least three bridges over the Dnipro River on which Russia relies to transport supplies for its forces into the occupied territories.

Ukrainian soldiers bombard the positions of the Russian forces in the vicinity of the city of Kherson (European)

Kyiv has claimed that these forces are increasingly isolated from other Russian strongholds in Ukraine thanks to long-range missile attacks.

This makes the Russian 49th Army, which is stationed on the western bank of the Dnipro River, appear extremely weak, the report said.

It is noteworthy that Kherson, the most politically important city under Russian control, is now also completely isolated from the rest of the Russian-controlled territory of Ukraine, according to reports by Kiev and its allies.

And the British Ministry of Defense stressed that "its loss will severely undermine Russia's attempts to portray the occupation as a success," as she put it.

Ukraine's General Staff has stated that skirmishes are taking place in the wider Kherson region, while both sides' forces and equipment are positioned ahead of a much larger potential battle.

Kyiv added that Russia is escalating counterattacks along the Kherson border with the Dnepropetrovsk region.

Zelensky admitted that Kyiv lost control of a fifth of the country during the (European) war.

Zelensky's confession

In a related context, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, referring to the destruction of bridges in Kherson, that everything will be reconstructed after regaining control of the region.

"We will liberate our entire country through military and diplomatic tools and all other available means," he added in a video message.

During the war, which is now in its sixth month, Zelensky said, Ukraine has so far lost control of about 20% of its territory.

He called for more heavy weapons from the West to stop Russian attacks and liberate Ukrainian lands.