'Germany has signed the convention, so it is no option for us,' Pistorius told reporters, adding 'those countries that have not signed the convention - China, Russia, Ukraine and the US - it is not up to me to comment on their actions.' Germany will not send cluster munitions to Ukraine as it is a signatory to a convention banning the production and use of that type of weapon, the country's defence minister Boris Pistorius said Friday, following a meeting with his Austrian and Swiss counterparts in Bern. Alessandro Della Valle/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock German Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius, right, Swiss Federal Councillor Viola Amherd, center, and Austrian Federal Minister of Defence, Klaudia Tanner attend D-A-CH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) Defence Ministers meeting in Bern, Switzerland, on July 7.

“Most importantly, we are moving forward despite the fact that we have parity in forces and means - we have no advantage over them.” “They (the Russians) sometimes have small counterattacks, but in general, we have the initiative,” he added.

“In particular, over the past day, they have advanced more than a kilometer,' he said.Ĭherevatyi went on to say the fighting is fierce with Russian forces putting up some resistance. “The defense forces continue to hold the initiative there (in the Bakhmut direction and are) putting pressure on the enemy, conducting assault operations, and advancing on the northern and southern flanks,” the spokesman for the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Serhii Cherevatyi told Ukrainian national broadcasters.

Ukraine says its troops have moved forward by more than a kilometer (0.6 miles) around the embattled city of Bakhmut in the past 24 hours as it continues to apply pressure on Russian forces in the area. A Ukrainian serviceman of the 57th Kost Hordiienko Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade fires a 2S22 Bohdana self-propelled howitzer towards Russian troops at a position near the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk region, Ukraine on July 5.

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