On Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised to liberate Bakhmut and two other key Ukrainian cities from Russian occupation during a discussion with American editors in Washington, CNN reports.

"We will de-occupy Bakhmut," Zelenskyy said.

"I think that we will de-occupy two more cities," he added. "I will not tell you what cities, sorry. And so we have the plan. Very, very comprehensive plan.”