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Ukrainian forces announced today that they had repelled a Russian offensive in the southern Kherson region, that casualties from Russian shelling of Kharkiv had increased, but that there was a general lull in hostilities, BTA reported, citing Reuters.

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Four people were killed and 20 wounded this morning in Russian airstrikes on Kharkiv and another nearby city in northeastern Ukraine, local authorities said, while last night's Russian strikes there left seven dead and 16 wounded, AFP reported.

"Around 04:30 local time, the enemy fired eight rockets from the city of Belgorod (in Russia) towards Kharkiv," regional governor Oleg Sinegubov said on Telegram, noting that these rockets landed in several areas of the city.

"In the Slobidski district, one of the rockets hit a residential building. The building was partially destroyed. According to preliminary data, two people died, 18 were injured, including two children," he said.

Sinegubov added that a rocket attack was carried out around 4:00 a.m. also against Krasnograd, about 80 kilometers south of Kharkiv, killing two more people.

"Several residential buildings were destroyed, more than 10 were damaged. Two civilians were killed, two injured, including a 12-year-old child," he said.

The strikes come as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky are set to meet today in Lviv, western Ukraine. 

ISW: Ukraine continues its successful attacks against Russian military units

Located about 40 kilometers from the border with Russia in northeastern Ukraine, Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, has been regularly attacked by the Russian army since the invasion began in late February, but Russian troops have never been able to capture the city.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed in the Kharkiv region since the start of the war, local authorities say.

"Russian forces have been making minimal progress since last month, and in some cases we are making progress," Ukrainian President Zelensky's adviser, Oleksiy Arestovich, said in a video message, adding: The occupiers are at a "dead end" from a strategic point of view. 

Ukrainian forces said they killed 29 "occupiers" near Belogorka, northeast of Kherson, and destroyed enemy artillery, armored vehicles and a military depot.

Reuters notes that it cannot independently confirm this information.

Russia's main battle tank units in Ukraine are worn out and not equipped with dynamic protection, repeating the mistakes of the First Chechen War in 1994, the British Ministry of Defense believes, quoted by DPA.

Additionally, many of the crews are not trained to maintain dynamic protection armor.

These problems likely contribute to the widespread "dome ejection" incidents well documented in eyewitness videos from Ukraine, the brief said.

Russian invasion of Ukraine