Ukrainian border guards said they had retaken a village in the country\u2019s north-east adjacent to the Russian border.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ukraine\u2019s 56th Brigade anti-aircraft installation leaves for a combat mission on November 10 in the Bakhmut District of Ukraine. <\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n Officials in the east, the focus of Russia\u2019s slow 20-month-old advance, said Ukrainian forces had repelled numerous attacks by Moscow\u2019s troops and they anticipated further assaults, particularly around the devastated town of Avdiivka.<\/p>\n Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv city military administration, said a Russian ballistic missile was launched towards the capital late on Saturday (AEDT).<\/p>\n \u201cAfter a long pause of 52 days, the enemy has resumed missile attacks on Kyiv,\u201d Popko said on the Telegram messaging app. \u201cThe missile failed to reach Kyiv, air defenders shot it down as it was approaching the capital.\u201d<\/p>\n Popko said there were no casualties or major damage.<\/p>\n Ruslan Kravchenko, the regional governor for the central Kyiv region, said five private houses and several commercial buildings in the area were damaged. He said two Russian missiles struck a field between settlements.<\/p>\n Ukraine\u2019s air defence also shot down 19 Iranian-made \u201cShahed\u201d drones out of 31 launched by the Russian forces overnight in southern and eastern regions, the air force said.<\/p>\n Ukrainian intelligence official Andriy Yusov told national television: \u201cThis is not the first or the last combined attack.\u201d He pointed to increasing numbers of air alerts in recent days.<\/p>\n Online video from Kharkiv region showed border guards raising the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag in Topoli village alongside the Russian border, without further explanation. Ukrainian forces a year ago made a lightning push to recapture large swathes of territory in the north-east and since June are engaged in a counteroffensive in the east and south.<\/p>\n In the east, military spokesperson Oleskandr Shtupun said Ukrainian troops had repelled 35 Russian assaults in and near Avdiivka, which has been under intense fire since mid-October.<\/p>\n Local civilians gather to get pure water distributed by the Russian Army outside Donetsk, in Russian-controlled Donetsk region, Ukraine.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n Shtupun told national television that 70 per cent of airstrikes in the east and south targeted Avdiivka.<\/p>\n Officials in Avdiivka say they anticipated a new Russian push on the city once the ground dries up from days of heavy rain. Videos show buildings reduced to shells and officials say increasing numbers of the remaining 1500 residents, from a pre-war population of 32,000, were preparing to evacuate.<\/p>\n In the Black Sea port of Odesa, regional governor Oleh Kiper said the southern region was attacked with missiles and drones late last week. The strikes wounded three people and damaged port infrastructure facilities, he said without offering further details.<\/p>\n Russia has intensified bombardments of Ukraine\u2019s ports, including Odesa, and grain infrastructure since Moscow in July pulled out of a deal to allow for exports from Ukrainian ports.<\/p>\n Russian accounts of the fighting said its forces had struck positions near Bakhmut, a town Moscow captured in May after months of heavy fighting.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n