Ukraine commemorated Independence Day on Wednesday, which also marked six months since Russia launched the invasion of its western neighbor. The Ukrainian leader pledged to maintain all-out resistance against Russia for "independence and victory."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy released a video online, which shows him delivering a speech at Independence Square in Kyiv. He said Ukraine will fight for its land "until the end."

Zelenskyy said Ukraine has been holding on for six months. He said Ukrainians are facing the day with one goal -- preservation of independence and victory of Ukraine.

The UK defense ministry said in its intelligence update on Wednesday that Russia's offensive in Donbas in eastern Ukraine "is making minimal progress and Russia anticipates a major Ukrainian counterattack."

The ministry says Russia is suffering from shortages of munitions, vehicles and personnel and that morale is poor in many parts of its military.

The ministry also says Russia's diplomatic power has been diminished and its long-term economic outlook is bleak. It says that six months into the invasion, Russia's war "has proven both costly and strategically harmful."

Russia has been stepping up its so-called Russification of eastern and southern areas of Ukraine.

The lower house of Russia's federal assembly said on Tuesday that a group of lawmakers led by the chamber's chairman Vyacheslav Volodin had visited Donetsk.

Russia effectively controls parts of the eastern Ukrainian region.

Volodin said in a meeting with pro-Russian militant leader Denis Pushilin that education, medicine and various other sectors require frameworks integrated with Russia's.