The commander of Ukrainian forces in the east of the country said on November 12 that Russian troops are more active around Bakhmut, while authorities in the southern region of Kherson said Russian attacks had seriously damaged a well-known scientific library.
The reports came a day after Ukraine marked one year since its forces retook the regional hub of Kherson and with tensions high in Kyiv after the first drone attacks on the Ukrainian capital in nearly two months were said to have been thwarted.
Oleksandr Syrskiy, the commander of Ukraine's eastern forces, said Russian forces were seeking to "regain lost positions" around Bakhmut in the Donetsk region.
Bakhmut has been an epicenter of fighting for months as an ambitious Ukrainian counteroffensive has raged on its northern and southern flanks, with Russian forces still in control of the city itself.
A Ukrainian ground-forces spokesman, Volodymyr Fityo, said in a televised appearance that the Russians were "probing defenses" around Bakhmut in hopes of "trying to storm" areas under Ukrainian control but hadn't achieved "strategic success."
RFE/RL can't independently confirm battlefield claims by either side in areas of heavy fighting.
The Ukrainian General Staff said in its early morning report that it had repelled attacks in Andriyivka and other places near Bakhmut, in the Donetsk region, and was waging its own assaults on Russian forces south of the city.
Ukrainian sources accuse the Russian side of near-daily attacks on recaptured areas of the Kherson region on the right bank of the Dnieper River.
Early on November 12, the head of the regional military administration, Oleksandr Produkin, said an early morning Russian air attack had struck the Honchar Regional Library in Kherson, a center of scientific learning.
"One of the hits was on the Honchar regional library. The building is seriously damaged," he said.
Prokudin said there were no injuries from the blast or the ensuing fire.
Russian officials have denied targeting civilians despite near-constant bombardment and drone attacks on infrastructure and population centers in the 20-month full-scale war.
On November 11, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that Ukrainian air defenses had been activated and civilians should take shelter. No injuries were reported.
