In the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkov, Russian rockets have repeatedly hit at night.
According to preliminary information, they killed seven people.
According to its own statements, the Ukrainian army was able to fend off several attacks in fierce fighting in the Donbass.
However, the enemy had gained ground in two places near the city of Donetsk.
Thursday marks the 176th day of Ukraine's defense against the Russian invasion.
Exactly on the Ukrainian national holiday next week, August 24, the war lasted half a year.
Guterres and Erdogan on a peace mission?
UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Lviv today.
For the United Nations and Turkey, it is an attempt to explore a negotiated solution almost six months after the Russian attack on Ukraine.
In addition, the situation in the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which is occupied by Russian troops, and the possibilities of an international expert mission.
Selenskyj once again called for Russian soldiers to be withdrawn from Europe's largest nuclear power plant.
As a mediation success in the war, the UN and Turkey have the agreement that has allowed grain exports from Ukrainian ports again since the beginning of August.
Before the meeting, Erdogan announced that the "end of the war between Ukraine and Russia should also be discussed through diplomatic channels" in Lviv.
UN circles see this more skeptically.
They believe that negotiations on a ceasefire are only possible when Russia or Ukraine can no longer gain ground and refrain from aiming for victory.
However, Ukraine wants to reconquer lost territories so as not to leave its compatriots at the mercy of the Russian occupation.
Ukrainian military expert Oleh Zhdanov warned Zelenskyy that agreeing to a ceasefire now is a Russian trap.
Russia's war aims continue to boil down to extensive subjugation of Ukraine.
Talks between Kyiv and Moscow had therefore already been broken off in the first weeks of the war without any result.
For Zelenskyy, the trip to western Ukraine to Lviv is the first publicly announced trip since February 24.
Since then he has been to Ukraine several times and has also visited the front, but the travel plans have been kept secret.
Selenskyj received international guests in the capital Kyiv, and their arrival was also kept secret, as was the case with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).
Russia reports new shots at Zaporizhia nuclear plant
The tug-of-war over an expert visit to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant continues between the United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Russia and Ukraine.
Moscow diplomats said on Wednesday that Russia supported the visit.
However, the Russian side assumes that the IAEA experts will travel to Ukraine via Russia and Russian-controlled territory.
A trip via Kyiv is too dangerous.