The governor of the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine says Ukrainian forces will continue to launch counterattacks throughout the winter in an effort to retake areas captured by Russia.

Serhiy Haidai said in an interview with NHK on Saturday that Ukraine has taken back some parts of the Luhansk region. He said 13 settlements had been liberated.

Russia announced in July that its military had taken full control of the region.

Haidai said Ukrainian forces will not scale back their counteroffensive during the winter. He said they will not give the Russian side time to consolidate its defense.

Fierce fighting has continued in eastern Ukraine.

The deputy head of Ukraine's presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said on social media on Monday that an artillery attack by Russian forces destroyed a school near Bakhmut, one of Ukraine's strongholds in the eastern region of Donetsk.

Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters last Thursday that there are occupied territories in several new regions of Russia that need to be liberated.

The British Defence Ministry said on Monday that Peskov's comments suggest that "Russia's current minimum political objectives of the war remain unchanged."

It said "Russia is likely still aiming to extend control" over all of the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. Russia unilaterally claims to have annexed the four regions.

But the ministry said, "Russian ground forces are unlikely to make operationally significant advances within the next several months."