The families of Ukrainian soldiers have held a rally to call for the early homecoming of their loved ones as Russia's invasion of Ukraine drags on.

About 50 wives and children of Ukrainian soldiers demonstrated in the capital, Kyiv, on Saturday.

They stood in a line on a busy boulevard, holding placards reading that Ukraine will lose if its soldiers are tired, and that soldiers are not slaves. They called on the government to take action.

The Ukrainian military is struggling to secure personnel to replace or reinforce those at the front line due to a shortage of soldiers.

A woman in her 30s said that her husband has spent barely 45 days with their 2-year-old child.

She said that her husband cannot afford to meet his child nor have a taste of civilian life. She added that serving in the military should never be a one-way ticket.

In May, the Ukrainian government implemented the revised mobilization law to shore up the military. It also began to recruit inmates from prisons. But there is little hope the problem can be solved anytime soon.

Russian forces have apparently intensified their offensives in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk. Reuters news agency reports that Russian troops attacked a residential area of the strategic city of Pokrovsk. At least one person was killed and two others were injured.