The Kremlin said Wednesday it would press on with its military offensive in Ukraine and rejected US President Donald Trump's claim that Kyiv's army could retake territory it had seized.

Moscow also pushed back on Trump's characterisation of Russia as a "paper tiger", a day after the US president dismissed Russia's army and said he could see Ukraine winning back every inch of land captured by Russia's forces.

Trump's remarks, delivered after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the United Nations, were a major pivot in his stance on the three-and-a-half-year conflict, which he had at one point boasted he could end within hours.

But the Republican has for weeks voiced mounting frustration with Putin for refusing to halt his offensive.

"We are continuing our special military operation to ensure our interests and achieve the goals" set by Putin, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, using Moscow's term for its assault on Ukraine.

"We are doing this for both the present and the future of our country. For many generations to come. Therefore, we have........

© International Business Times