Ukraine announced on Wednesday its intention to escalate on the southern front and limited the geographical scope of the use of cluster bombs obtained from Washington, while the Kremlin commented on comments by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about his willingness to mediate between the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stressed that his country needs US-made cluster weapons for self-defense, stressing that their use will be limited "within its territory occupied by Russia."

The statement follows controversy sparked by Washington's provision of cluster munitions to Kiev. It means that Ukrainian forces will not be allowed to drop these bombs inside Russian territory.

But the Kremlin said supplying Ukraine with cluster munitions changed the situation and forced Russia to take countermeasures.

Missiles & Aircraft

Meanwhile, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that President Biden will discuss the issue of supplying Ukraine with long-range missiles with the Ukrainian president and will continue to study the matter.

Ukraine's defense minister has revealed that he is in contact with US officials about supplying his country with ATACMS missiles with a range of up to 300 kilometers.

The New York Times quoted US officials as saying that the Biden administration is in an internal debate about approving the sending of a limited number of surface-to-surface missiles to Ukraine.


Training and escalation

In the field of training Ukrainian pilots on US-made F-16 fighter jets, Sullivan said the training will take some time and then the fighters will likely be transferred to Ukraine from European countries.

On the ground, the Ukrainian army said it would step up its military actions against Russian forces on the southern front, to relieve pressure on its forces on a number of fronts in the eastern region.

Al Jazeera correspondent monitored the movements of the Ukrainian army in the "Avdiivka" front in the south of the Donetsk region.

"Our forces prevented the advance of Russian forces in the directions of Kobyansk, Liman, Avdevka and Marinsk today," the Ukrainian deputy defense minister said.

It added that Ukrainian forces had made advances in the direction of the southern side around Bakhmout "and continued the offensive operation in the directions of Melitopol and Berdyansk."

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Politically, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced his country's readiness to play a mediating role between Russia and Ukraine if it is presented to Ankara.

This came at a press conference held by Erdogan on Wednesday at the end of the two-day summit of leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.

"If the Russian and Ukrainian sides offer us the role of mediator, we will gladly do this mediation," Erdogan said.

The Turkish president reiterated that "there is no winner in the war and no loser in peace, and that Ankara wants to revive peace again in the region."

Erdogan said he was one of the few leaders who could talk to the Russian and Ukrainian sides at the same time.

Erdogan said Russia had changed its position on the release of former commanders of the Ukrainian garrison in Mariupol after initially backlashing.

Erdogan told a news conference in Vilnius: "First, there were some statements from Russia but then when they learned about some circumstances, the situation turned positive."

Russia's TASS news agency reported on Wednesday, citing a Kremlin spokesman, that Russian President Vladimir Putin has no plans at the moment to talk to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

This came after the Turkish president spoke of his willingness to mediate between Kiev and Moscow and his ability to talk with both sides.


Humanitarian situation

On the humanitarian side, Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, urged Russia to respect humanitarian law.

The Commissioner spoke briefly about the evidence published in a report two weeks ago of arbitrary detention, torture and sexual violence against civilians in Ukraine.

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (UNHRM) said it had documented the arbitrary detention of more than 900 civilians between the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, and May 23 this year, and the summary executions of 77 of them.

There was no immediate comment from Russia's permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva, but Russia denies committing atrocities and deliberately targeting civilians.