Ukrainian military authorities said their troops had made further gains in the east and south of the country, including around the ruined city of Bakhmut, even as Russian missiles struck the Kharkiv and Odesa regions, causing damage and civilian deaths.
Kyiv said many of the projectiles had been shot down.
Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL's Ukraine Live Briefing gives you the latest developments on Russia's invasion, Western military aid, the plight of civilians, and territorial control maps. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on August 14 visited the Donetsk region to get an update from commanders in frontline positions, where small gains were also reported against Russian forces on August 14.
Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said in televised statements that "in the Bakhmut sector, 3 square kilometers were liberated" over the past week and that 40 square kilometers had been recaptured since June amid a grueling counteroffensive.
Malyar said Russian pressure in the Kharkiv region had diverted many of Kyiv’s forces from the battle around Bakhmut, which had been captured by Russian forces in May following a battle that virtually destroyed the town with a prewar population of 71,000.
"It was important for the enemy to divert our forces in other directions, so we could not concentrate our forces for the Bakhmut sector offensive," Malyar said.
Russian forces targeted Kharkiv in the east and Ukraine's main Black Sea port of Odesa with a fresh wave of missiles and drones, officials and the military said earlier in the day.
A man was killed and two others were wounded in the shelling of Kozacha Lopan, in the Kharkiv region, just 2 kilometers from the Russian border, regional authorities said.
Although the attack on Odesa was repelled, three people were wounded by falling debris, regional Governor Oleh Kiper said on August 14.
"People have been provided with the necessary medical assistance.... Several fires broke out from falling missiles. The windows of some buildings were blown out by the shock wave from the explosions," Kiper added.
WATCH: The Aftermath Of Russian Strikes On Odesa On August 14
The Ukrainian General Staff reported on August 14 that 33 clashes had taken place over the previous day with fierce fighting in the Kupyansk sector of the eastern region of Kharkiv.
In Donetsk, Russian forces attempted to regain lost ground in the Bakhmut area but were repelled, the General Staff said in its daily report, adding that the Ukrainian air defense shot down a Russian attack helicopter above Bakhmut.
Zelenskiy on August 14 said he visited troops in the Donetsk region on the front line of the war. In a Telegram post, he said he "discussed with the brigade commander the problems faced by the soldiers and proposals for their solution. I get general information every day…. But I wanted to visit all the brigades separately in order to understand the problems of each of them."
In the south, Russian forces made "unsuccessful attempts" to counterattack in the Robotyne sector of Zaporizhzhya, the Russian military said, a day after reporting that Ukrainian troops had achieved “partial success” around Robotyne.
Some social media postings indicated that Ukrainian troops had entered Robotyne, a small settlement that stands in the way of Kyiv’s southern push toward Melitopol.
The battlefield reports could not be independently confirmed.
On the diplomatic front, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner arrived on a surprise visit to Kyiv, saying that his country stood "shoulder to shoulder" with Ukraine.
Lindner, who arrived by train, said he would hold "very concrete" talks with Ukrainian officials, adding that Germany has given Ukraine some 22 billion euros ($24 billion) in humanitarian, financial, and military aid since the start of the war.
Berlin is under growing pressure from Ukraine to send long-range Taurus cruise missiles.
The United States said on August 14 that it was sending another $200 million in security assistance to Ukraine, including additional munitions for Patriot air-defense systems and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).
In a sign of increased global tensions, the Dutch and British militaries said they scrambled fighter jets when Russian warplanes were tracked flying in international airspace but toward the airspace of the Netherlands and Scotland before turning back.