Life had begun to return to normal in Ukraine’s second city after Moscow’s troops were forced to retreat

• Ukraine-Russia war – latest updates

Artillery has pounded the city of Kharkiv for the first time in two weeks, just as life in Ukraine’s second city was starting to return to normal after Russian troops were pushed back from its outlying towns and villages.

Kharkiv’s regional governor, Oleh Synehubov, said at least nine people had been killed and 17 injured in the attacks on the northern part of the city.

Governor of Luhansk says Ukrainian troops retreating in some areas, as city of Lyman reportedly captured

• Ukraine-Russia war – latest updates

Officials in Ukraine have admitted that Russia has the “upper hand” in fighting in the country’s east, as Ukrainian forces fell back from some of their positions in the Donbas region.

Amid reports that Lyman, the site of an important railway junction, had largely been taken by Russian forces, Ukraine’s general staff reported that Russian forces were also advancing on Sievierodonetsk, Bakhmut and Avdiivka.

Bombardment continues in 40 towns including the key city of Sievierodonetsk as police in Lysychansk collect bodies for mass burials

• What we know so far on day 92 invasion

Fierce battles have continued to rage in eastern Ukraine with Russian troops on the verge of encircling a key industrial city, bringing a sharp rebuke of the west from Volodymyr Zelenskiy for not doing enough to help Kyiv win the war.

As the Ukrainian military reported on Thursday that 40 towns in the Donbas region were under Russian bombardment, Luhansk governor Sergiy Gaiday described fighting outside Sievierodonetsk, a key military goal for Russia, as “very difficult”, saying Russian troops were shelling the city from the outskirts with mortars.

Anton, released by Ukraine in a prisoner exchange, says he is only now registering the toll captivity took on mind and body

• Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates

Still getting used to the feel of his gun and military fatigues, Anton suddenly found himself surrounded by Ukrainian forces as bullets flew by, with one striking his arm.

“It was our first confrontation with the enemy; we hadn’t even fired a shot. They ambushed us, and we couldn’t fight back. We had to surrender,” said Anton, a 21-year-old Russian serviceman, in an interview with the Guardian.

Zelenskiy calls situation in Donbas ‘extremely difficult’ as Russia tries to carve up Ukrainian-held territory

• Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates

Russian forces have launched fresh assaults on towns in eastern Ukraine, with the city of Sievierodonetsk increasingly in danger of being totally encircled.

The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said delays in arrival of western arms to the frontline had left Kyiv “catastrophically short of heavy weapons”.

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The turmoil caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has underlined the need for a free Indo-Pacific region, Joe Biden has said, at the start of a meeting with regional partners that Beijing has criticised as part of a US-led attempt to contain China.

Biden, and the leaders of a loose alliance known as the Quad – India, Japan and Australia – reaffirmed their commitment to a “free and open” Indo-Pacific during talks in Tokyo on Tuesday. The comments came one day after the US president said Washington would be ready to intervene militarily to defend Taiwan, prompting China to accuse him of “playing with fire”.

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The RIA news agency reports that Russia’s defence ministry says its forces destroyed a Ukrainian unit of US-produced M777 howitzers, a type of artillery weapon.

The claim has not been independently verified.