Russian forces have secured control of Ukraine's Luhansk province, but at a significant cost.
Video / AP
Russia did not take any land in Ukraine this week for the first time in the war, as it appeared to halt large-scale offensive operations in Donbas ahead of a renewed push.
A Russian missile strike on Kramatorsk killed at least one civilian and injured six others, despite the slowdown in frontline fighting.
Small-scale combat was reported elsewhere, as Moscow sought to maintain pressure on the defenders.
Wednesday was the first day since the beginning of the war that Russia neither claimed to nor was assessed to have made any territorial gains, said the Institute for the Study of War, an American think tank.
The lull may indicate that Moscow is taking an "operational pause" to reconstitute its forces for an attack on the Ukrainian strongholds of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, following the exhausting two-month battle for the Luhansk region.
Reconstitution requires resting and replacing exhausted soldiers and equipment, as well as reorganising the chain of command and composition of units for the coming mission.
Both tasks take considerable time, although they do not imply a complete cessation of combat operation.
After Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, ordered a retreat from Kyiv in March, it took about six weeks for his army to be in the correct position and shape for the attack on Donbas.
Russian commanders will likely be under pressure to push on before more Western heavy weapons arrive to reinforce the Ukrainian defence.
A series of strikes have hit Russian ammunition depots over the past week, as Ukraine seeks to starve Russia's artillery of shells.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, said that Western artillery systems - including American Himars and British M270 multiple launch rocket systems - "started working very powerfully".
He said: "Our defenders inflict very noticeable strikes on depots and other spots that are important to the occupiers' logistics. This significantly reduced the offensive potential of the Russian army."
Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the Ukrainian security council, told the Wall Street Journal that the country had received nine Himars to date. The United States initially said it would deliver eight by the end of July.
Other officials have warned that the deliveries are not enough to match the Russians gun for gun and that many more weapons are needed if they are to halt and eventually reverse the invasion.
Destruction from a missile attack is seen in Bakhmut City in the Donbas region, Ukraine. Photo / Getty
Putin said the West was welcome to "try" to defeat Russia on the battlefield.
In televised comments to Russian parliamentary leaders, he said: "Today, we hear that they want to defeat us on the battlefield. What can you say, let them try. We have heard many times that the West wants to fight us to the last Ukrainian.
"This is a tragedy for the Ukrainian people, but it seems that everything is heading towards this."
Kramatorsk and Sloviansk are expected to be the next targets for Russia's invasion force, after Ukraine retreated from Lysychansk, its last foothold in the Luhansk region, on Sunday.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region, said six buildings - including a hotel and an apartment block - were damaged in the strike on Kramatorsk and warned the initial death toll could rise.
"This is a deliberate attack on civilians. This will continue until we drive them out," he said.
Soldiers raise the Ukrainian flag on Snake Island on Thursday. Photo / Ukrainian armed forces.
Sloviansk also came under fire. Vadym Lyakh, its mayor, said there had been casualties but gave no further details.
At least three people were killed and five injured in a multiple rocket launcher strike on the city of Kharkiv, said Oleh Syniehubov, head of Kharkiv Regional Military Administration.
It came as Ukrainian forces landed and raised the national flag on Snake Island, the rock in the western Black Sea that Russia abandoned last week.
Images released by Ukraine on Thursday showed three Ukrainian soldiers raising the blue and yellow national flag on a patch of ground next to the remains of a flattened building.
The Russian defence ministry said several Ukrainian troops had landed on the island before dawn and that its air force "immediately launched a strike with high-precision missiles" against them.
