The White House couldn't answer whether Ukraine has launched the highly anticipated counteroffensive to liberate the territories occupied by Russia.

"As you know, this is not like a D-Day landing on a beach (landing of the Allies in Normandy in 1944, – ed.). These types of military operations are more dynamic, more layered, more multifaceted," stated Jake Sullivan, the National Security Advisor of the United States, during a briefing.

He refused to say whether the Ukrainian Defence Forces have started their offensive.

"I'll let the Ukrainians characterise and describe what they're doing. I would just say intense military activity is underway in parts of Ukraine, as we have seen recently from the fighting around Bakhmut," Sullivan noted.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously stated that Ukraine still needed "a little more time" to launch counteroffensive.

According to him, this is necessary to allow a larger portion of the promised Western military assistance to arrive in Ukraine.