Fierce fighting is taking place around the Ukrainian town of Vovchansk as Kyiv's troops seek to isolate Russian units that have advanced across the nearby border.
Heavy combat is underway at building materials plant on the northern edge of Vovchansk, according to military bloggers on both sides of the conflict.
One Ukrainian squad commander, Stanislav Buniatov, described the situation in Vovchansk, east of Kharkiv and a few kilometres from the state border, as "difficult but controlled" and said Russian troops are "surrounded".
Russian forces began coming across the border in numbers last month in a multi-pronged assault that the Kremlin said was designed to create a buffer zone that would prevent the Ukrainians from striking Russian cities such as Belgorod.
Ukraine is still on the defensive in the Donetsk region, enabling Moscow's forces to inflict heavy losses during Ukrainian troop rotations and bringing them closer to crucial supply routes.
Kyiv has turned to a bend-but-don't-break strategy to buy time until it can get more Western weapons and ammunition to the front. By ceding some territory, Ukraine has been able to fight from better defended positions, military experts say.
In this photo provided by the 24th Mechanised brigade press service, Ukrainian soldiers fire a 120mm mortar towards Russian position on the front line at Chasiv Yar in Donetsk region.
Russia's main offensive in the Donetsk region is focused on the areas around the captured Avdiivka and the town of Chasiv Yar, and it is making small but steady gains. Should Chasiv Yar fall, it would put nearby cities in jeopardy.
Russia now has about 650,000 troops in Ukraine, which is nearly five times the 140,000 it had there two years ago. And Russian tactical changes have proven effective, sending waves of soldiers from different directions to force Ukrainian forces to expend more shells, attacking more frequently at night to exploit Ukraine's weaknesses and inability to effectively counterattack.
A two-day summit in Switzerland dedicated to forging a path forward to end the war in Ukraine concluded with key powers spurning a joint communique agreed to by more than 80 other countries and international organisations.
India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates, all of whom have important trading relationships with Russia as members of the BRICS economic group, attended the weekend meeting but did not agree to sign the joint statement.
More than 100 countries and organisations gathered at an idyllic lakeside resort near Lucerne to drum up support for the 10-point peace plan Ukraine President Volodymy Zelenskyy first outlined late in 2022.
Russia on Thursday wrapped itself in patriotic pageantry for Victory Day, as President Vladimir Putin celebrated the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II by hailing his forces fighting in Ukraine and blasting the West for fuelling conflicts around the world.
The Soviet Union lost about 27 million people in World War II, an estimate that many historians consider conservative, scarring virtually every family.
Even though few veterans of what Russia calls the Great Patriotic War are still alive 79 years after Berlin fell to the Red Army, the victory remains the most important and widely revered symbol of Russia's prowess and a key element of national identity.
Since coming to power on the last day of 1999, Putin has made May 9 an important part of his political agenda, featuring missiles, tanks and fighter jets
As battalions marched by and military hardware — both old and new — rumbled over the cobblestones, the sky cleared briefly to allow a flyby of warplanes, some of which trailed smoke in the white, red and blue of the Russian flag.
About 9000 troops, including about 1000 who fought in Ukraine, took part in Thursday's parade.
Putin has turned Victory Day — the country's most important secular holiday — into a pillar of his nearly quarter-century in power and a justification of his military action in Ukraine.
Two days after beginning his fifth term in office, he led the festivities across Russia that recall the nation's wartime sacrifice.
In his speech, Putin accused the West of "revanchism … hypocrisy and lies" in seeking to play down the Soviet role in defeating Nazi Germany.
Putin hailed the troops fighting in Ukraine as "our heroes" for their courage, resilience and self-denial, adding that "all of Russia is with you."
He accused the West of "fuelling regional conflicts, inter-ethnic and inter-religious strife and trying to contain sovereign and independent centers of global development."
As Ukraine marked its third Easter at war, Russia on Sunday launched a barrage of drones concentrated in Ukraine's east.
Eastern Orthodox Christians usually celebrate Easter later than Catholic and Protestant churches, because they use a different method of calculating the date for the holy day that marks Christ's resurrection.
A majority of Ukrainians identify as Orthodox Christians, though the church is divided.
Many belong to the independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
The rival Ukrainian Orthodox Church was loyal to the patriarch in Moscow until splitting from Russia after the 2022 invasion and is viewed with suspicion by many Ukrainians.
Officials in Kyiv urged residents to follow Orthodox Easter services online due to safety concerns, but in many regional areas people attended services in person.
In his Easter address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Ukrainians to be "united in one common prayer".
Many Ukrainian military units paused combat to mark Easter.
Here a priest blesses soldiers of the 72nd Separate Mechanised Brigade, during a Christian Orthodox Easter service, in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine.
Frontline Ukrainian soldiers received Easter cakes, chocolates and other delicacies delivered to their positions by drone.
Despite the holy day, Russian attacks on civilians continued on Sunday.
Ukraine's air force said that Russia had launched 24 Shahed drones on the weekend, of which 23 were shot down.
Six people, including a child, were wounded in a drone strike in the eastern Kharkiv region, local officials said.
In Moscow, worshippers including President Vladimir Putin packed Moscow's landmark Christ the Saviour Cathedral on Saturday for a nighttime Easter service led by Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church and an outspoken supporter of the Kremlin.
Months of relentless Russian artillery pounding have devastated a strategic city in eastern Ukraine, new drone footage shows, with barely a building left intact, homes and municipal offices charred and a town that once had a population of 12,000 now all but deserted.
The footage shows Chasiv Yar — set amid green fields and woodland — pounded into an apocalyptic vista.
The destruction is reminiscent of the cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, which Ukraine yielded after months of bombardment and huge losses for both sides.
The strategically important city has been under attack by Russian forces for months. Capturing it would give Russia control of a hilltop from which it can attack other cities that form the backbone of Ukraine's eastern defences.
Rows of mid-rise apartment blocks in Chasiv Yar have been blackened by blasts, punched through with holes or reduced to piles of timber and masonry.
Houses and civic buildings are heavily damaged.
The golden dome of a church remains intact but the building appears badly damaged.
Russia launched waves of assaults on foot and in armoured vehicles at Chasiv Yar's outnumbered Ukrainian troops, who have run desperately short of ammunition while waiting for the US and other allies to send fresh supplies.
No soldiers or civilians were seen in the footage and exclusively obtained by the AP, apart from a lone man walking down the middle of a road between wrecked structures.
Regional Governor Vadym Filashkin said Wednesday on Ukrainian TV that 682 residents have held on in Chasiv Yar, living in "very difficult conditions."
The destruction underscores Russia's scorched-earth tactics throughout more than two years of war, as its troops have killed and displaced thousands of civilians.
A Russian missile hit a prominent building, known by local people as the 'Harry Potter Castle', in the port city of Odesa on Monday, reports the BBC.
At least four people were killed and 32 wounded when the turreted Gothic-style building was struck.
It is the home of Ukrainian MP Serhiy Kivalov, who was wounded in the strike, according to local media.