The Ukrainian military has warded off renewed Russian attacks on the eastern town of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region and on the left bank of the Dnipro river, the general staff in Kyiv says.
Russian forces are continuing to try to encircle Avdiivka, an industrial town whose population has largely fled.
Fighting around the town has been ongoing for months.
"Our warriors are maintaining their defence and causing significant casualties to the occupiers," the report said.
The Ukrainian general staff also said that Russian attempts to dislodge Ukrainian forces that have crossed the Dnipro in the southern Kherson region had failed.
The Ukrainian air force reported downing numerous Russian drones.
Odessa on the Black Sea was the target of attacks.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) cast doubt in its report on Friday on comments by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg made during a DPA interview to the effect that Russian President Vladimir Putin "has lost Ukraine altogether" and was facing a "major strategic defeat".
It noted that Ukrainian officials continued to warn that Russia was maintaining its maximalist objectives and goals for conquest of Ukrainian territory.
Meanwhile, mice and rats are affecting soldiers in Ukraine, according to United Kingdom defence officials.
"In recent weeks, both Ukrainian and Russian troops have highly likely suffered from exceptional levels of rat and mice infestation in some sectors of the front line," the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in its daily intelligence update on the war published on X on Saturday.
The fact that the autumn was mild and there was plenty of food in the fields left fallow because of the fighting probably contributed to this.
"As the weather has become colder, the animals are likely seeking shelter in vehicles and defensive positions. Rodents will add further pressure to front line combatants' morale," the MoD wrote.
There is also a risk to military equipment if the animals gnaw through cables, the MoD said in London.
This was observed in the same area during World War II.
Unconfirmed reports also suggested that Russian units were increasingly ill, which the troops attributed to the pest problem.
Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian war of Ukraine, the ministry has regularly published information on the course of the war.
Russia accuses the UK of disinformation.
