The Ukrainian military has reported another day of heavy artillery and rocket fire by Russian forces in both the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, accompanied by airstrikes. But it says the Russians have failed to gain ground in either region, nor in the south.
In Kharkiv, "the enemy unsuccessfully tried to advance in the direction of Velyki Prohody -Pitomnyk with assault actions," the military's General Staff said. The area is about 20 kilometers (about 12 miles) north of Kharkiv.
In one of the most intense current battles in Donbas, the General Staff said that another attempt to break through Ukrainian lines along the Luhansk-Donetsk border had failed.
"Ukrainian soldiers repulsed the offensive in the direction of the Lysychansk refinery - Ivano-Daryivka. The enemy suffered losses and retreated," it said.
In the Sloviansk direction, Russia launched artillery fire in areas to the north of the city, The General Staff said.
"The Russians have been constantly shelling the city for 20 days now. As a result of today's shelling, two people were injured," the mayor of Sloviansk, Vadym Liakh, told Ukrainian television. "There has been no water supply in the city for two months, and 15% of residents do not have electricity due to shelling."
"22,000 people remain in the city. If the shelling increases, more people will want to evacuate."
The area around the town of Bakhmut was also shelled again Thursday, and there were also airstrikes, the General Staff said.
In the south, the Russians were repelled when they tried to launch an assault along the border of the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions, the General Staff said. This area, around Andriivka, has seen an increase in combat in recent days but no shift in current positions.