LVIV, Ukraine (AP) Ukraines military said Thursday that it recaptured some areas in the south and repelled Russian attacks in the east, as a bloody battle raged at a steel mill in Mariupol where Ukrainian troops are holed up in tunnels and bunkers, fending off a Russian onslaught.

Ten weeks into a devastating war , Ukrainian and Russian forces are fighting village by village, as Moscow struggles to gain momentum in the eastern industrial heartland of the Donbas. Russia switched its focus to that region where Moscow-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian forces for years after a stiffer than expected resistance bogged its troops down and thwarted its initial goal of overrunning the capital .

In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday , Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said he hadnt expected the Russian offensive to drag on this way. Some Russian troops used ally Belarus as a launch pad for the invasion on Feb. 24, and Lukashenko publicly supported the operation.

But I am not immersed in this problem enough to say whether it goes according to plan, like the Russians say, or like I feel it, the authoritarian leader said. He added it would be unacceptable to use nuclear weapons, but he couldnt say if Russia has such plans.