Kyiv says Moscow forces have gained ‘foothold’ in area north of Donetsk city after pounding depleted defenders

• Putin on our doorstep: Ukrainians watch as the frontline edges closer

The Ukrainian village of Ocheretyne has been battered by fighting, drone footage obtained by the Associated Press shows. The village has been a target for Russian forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.

Russian troops have been advancing in the area, pounding Kyiv’s depleted, ammunition-deprived forces with artillery, drones and bombs. Ukraine’s military has acknowledged that Russia has gained a “foothold” in Ocheretyne, which had a population of about 3,000 before the war, but says the fighting there is continuing.

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The Russian military has attacked the command headquarters of the Ukrainian army’s southern grouping, using missiles and artillery, Russia’s defence ministry said. The claims are yet to be independently verified.

Ukraine’s special services claimed responsibility for a drone attack that hit a Russian oil refinery in Ryazan, south of Moscow, early on Wednesday morning. It said the attack took place about 2:00am (2300 GMT). The governors of the Kursk and Voronezh regions in southwest Russia that border Ukraine also reported drone attacks on their territories, saying there was no damage or injuries.

Russia attacked the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine with guided bombs on Wednesday, killing at least two people and injured two others, the regional governor said. The two people were killed when a car was struck in the village of Zolochiv, where a private home was also struck, governor Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram.

Ukrainian forces defending the strategic eastern stronghold of Chasiv Yar say they are still waiting for fresh ammunition after the US approved a major military aid package. Oleh Shyriaiev, commander of Ukraine’s 225th Separate Assault Battalion that is fighting near the town, said more artillery shells would help his unit hold their positions. “I hope we receive artillery shells soon,” he said. Chasiv Yar is emerging as a key battleground because of its position on elevated ground that could serve as a gateway to the cities of Kostiantynivka, Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

The US Senate has unanimously approved legislation to ban imports of Russian uranium, after the House of Representatives passed the bill in December. The US president, Joe Biden, is expected now to sign the uranium imports bill into law.

We reported earlier (see post at 09.23) how Ukrainian forces defending the strategic eastern stronghold of Chasiv Yar say they are still waiting for fresh ammunition as they try to repel intensifying attacks.

Four-year-old child and pregnant woman among those in a serious condition after strike on seafront park in Black Sea port city

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Ukrainian officials say situation ‘very difficult’ but ‘not catastrophic’ amid loss of two villages and fighting in Ocheretyne

Russia has consolidated recent battlefield gains in the east of Ukraine, and is attempting to break through Ukrainian defensive lines before a long-awaited package of US military assistance arrives at the frontline.

On Sunday Russian troops advanced near the city of Avdiivka. They seized two villages and expanded a narrow corridor around the rural settlement of Ocheretyne, which the Russians entered a week ago. Ukrainian security officials described the situation in the Donbas region where Russia is attacking on multiple fronts as “very difficult”. It was “not critical or catastrophic”, they added.

The Azov brigade, which leaders say has a culture of ‘mutual respect’, is tasked with repelling relentless Russian attacks as the invaders make most of artillery mismatch

Fifteen miles east of the garrison town of Lyman, a desperate fight has been taking place on Ukraine’s eastern front for months. The once verdant Serebryansky pine forest has been reduced to burnt-out stumps, reminiscent of images from the Somme, destroyed amid Russian attacks aimed at eliminating Ukrainian foxholes.

Fearful that the frontline could crack last summer, Ukraine’s commanders deployed the Azov infantry brigade to the sector. Their task was and is to repel what “Maslo”, a 29-year-old staff sergeant with the unit’s first battalion, described as “constant assaults, every day, sometimes for 24 hours”. Occasionally the brigade makes dangerous counterattacks on foot.