Kyiv, Ukraine

While the death toll from the Russian bombardment of Kharkiv city in northeastern Ukraine rose on Thursday, the nearly six-month-long war rages on without pause. Ukrainian forces claimed to have repulsed a Russian onslaught in the southern province of Kherson.

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Later on Thursday, in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will have meetings with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In addition to addressing the threat to world food supply and the potential for a catastrophe at Europe's largest nuclear power facility, which Russian forces have seized, they will talk about how to find a political end to the war.

The war has driven millions of people from their homes, claimed hundreds of lives, and widened the geopolitical chasm between the West and Russia, whose stated objectives are to demilitarise its neighbour and defend Russian-speaking populations. Oleksiy Arestovych, a presidential advisor for Ukraine, said in a video: "Russian forces have achieved only minimal advances, and in some cases, we have advanced, since last month. What we are seeing is a 'strategic deadlock'." 

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Seven people were killed and 16 were injured when Russian forces shelled a residential section of Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine, on Wednesday evening, according to the Ukrainian Emergencies Service. Zelensky posted on the Telegram chat service, "This is a sneaky and unscrupulous strike on civilians with no reason."

According to the regional governor, Thursday's pre-dawn shelling of Oleh Synehubov, another residential district of Kharkiv, resulted in one fatality and 18 injuries. 

29 "occupiers" were reportedly killed by Ukrainian forces near the village of Bilohirka, northeast of Kherson, according to the southern district of the Operational Command of the Ukrainian armed forces. Artillery, armoured vehicles, and a military supply depot were also reportedly destroyed. Fears of a catastrophe have been stoked by fighting near the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, and Guterres has stated he wants a demilitarised zone to be formed.

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(with inputs from agencies)