Ukraine's defense ministry says Russian forces fired more than 100 missiles targeting infrastructure and other facilities across the country on Friday.

The ministry said on social media that Russia fired 106 missiles in a major offensive, and that 61 of them were shot down by Ukraine's air defenses.

The mayor of the capital Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, said in a social media post on Friday that fragments of Russian missiles had damaged vehicles and rooftops.

The governor of the eastern region of Dnipropetrovsk said on Saturday that Russia's drone attacks continued during the night, and important infrastructure facilities were struck.

In an analysis, the US think tank The Institute for the Study of War said that the pace of Russian operations in western parts of the Luhansk region had increased markedly.

It added that the Russians were deploying elements of three divisions, including tank and airborne divisions, as part of its offensive campaign in the region.

In an interview with NHK on Friday, Ukrainian military analyst Ihor Kabanenko underscored the significance of Bakhmut, a major operational base of the Ukrainian forces in the eastern Donetsk region.

He noted that Bakhmut is strategically important because if Russia seizes control of the area, it will be able to deploy its troops in the eastern Kharkiv and southern Zaporizhzhia regions. He said that's why Russia continues its offensive against Bakhmut.

Kabanenko also said that Russia is sacrificing its military resources to show the Russian public that major gains are being made in its invasion of Ukraine that began almost a year ago.

He suggested that Ukrainian forces may withdraw from Bakhmut temporarily to prepare for a new counteroffensive.