By Tom Balmforth
KYIV (Reuters) -The situation on the front lines in&nbsp;eastern&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;"has become tougher" as&nbsp;Russian forces push for gains that they could show on the first anniversary of their invasion, on Feb. 24, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a sombre assessment.
Russia, determined to make progress before&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;gets newly pledged Western battle tanks and armoured vehicles, has picked up momentum on the battlefield and announced&nbsp;advances&nbsp;north and south of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut in Dontesk.
Bakhmut and 10 towns and villages around it came under&nbsp;Russian fire, the Ukrainian military said late on Wednesday. Bakhmut has suffered persistent&nbsp;Russian bombardment for months.
Avdiivka, another major&nbsp;Russian target, the nearby town of Maryinka and some neighbouring settlements were also hit, the military added.
In Kramatorsk, about 55 km (34 miles) northwest of Bakhmut, a&nbsp;Russian missile destroyed an apartment building and damaged seven on Wednesday, killing at least&nbsp;three people and injuring 20, police said.
"Definite increase has been noted in the offensive operations of the occupiers on the front in the&nbsp;east&nbsp;of our country. The situation has become tougher," Zelenskiy said.
"The enemy is trying to achieve at least&nbsp;something now to show that&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;has some chances on the anniversary of the invasion," he added in an evening video address.
Zelenskiy also vowed more anti-corruption measures as authorities continued raids ahead of a meeting with European Union officials on Friday, reflecting a determination to demonstrate that&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;can be a reliable steward of billions of dollars in aid.
Ukraine&nbsp;sees the meeting as important to its hopes of joining the bloc, which can take years.
Earlier, security officials searched the home of businessman Ihor Kolomoiskiy, a one-time Zelenskiy ally, in what media said was an investigation of suspected financial crime.
Kolomoiskiy could not immediately be reached for comment. He has denied any wrongdoing.
ROCKET HITS KRAMATORSK
In Kramatorsk, police said a&nbsp;Russian Iskander-K tactical missile struck at 9:45 p.m. (1945 GMT).
"At least&nbsp;eight apartment buildings were damaged. One of them was completely destroyed," police said in a Facebook post.
"People may remain under the rubble."
At least&nbsp;44 people were killed in January when a&nbsp;Russian missile hit an apartment building in Dnipro city.
In April 2022,&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;said 57 people died when a&nbsp;Russian missile hit the train station in Kramatorsk.&nbsp;Russia, which denies targeting&nbsp;civilians, said the missile was Ukrainian.
A former commander of&nbsp;Russia's Wagner mercenary group who fled to Norway in January told Reuters he wanted to apologise for fighting in&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;and was speaking out to bring perpetrators of atrocities to justice.
"First of all, repeatedly, and again, I would like to apologise, and although I don't know how it would be received, I want to say I'm sorry," Andrei Medvedev, 26, said.
Ukraine&nbsp;and its Western allies have accused&nbsp;Russian forces of war crimes.&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;rejects that.
The Wagner group has been locked in a battle of attrition in Donetsk, with supporters of&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;saying its forces have captured about half the region.
'WE NEED WEAPONS'
Donetsk and Luhansk, declared annexed by&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;in September following sham referendums, make up&nbsp;Ukraine's industrial region of Donbas - the target of&nbsp;Russian forces after a failed advance on the capital, Kyiv, early in the campaign.
In the past 24 hours, Ukrainian forces repelled attacks on several centres in Donetsk, including Bakhmut, Krasna Hora, and Blahodatne, Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said.
Russian forces said they took Blahodatne, just to the north of Bakhmut, on Tuesday.
Russian forces also tried to launch attacks on the logistics hub of Lyman, retaken by Ukrainian forces in October, but they made no headway, he added.
Reuters could not confirm battlefield reports.
Russia&nbsp;and&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;are both believed to be preparing new offensives and Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov warned that a&nbsp;Russian push could begin as soon as Feb. 24.
"We keep telling our partners that we have to be ready for this, as quickly as possible. And that's why we need weapons," Reznikov, visiting Paris on Tuesday, told France's BFM TV.
Ukraine&nbsp;has secured pledges of weapons from the West offering new capabilities - the latest expected this week to include rockets from the United States that would nearly double the range of Ukrainian forces.
The Kremlin said that longer-range rockets from the United States would escalate the conflict but not change its course.
"The special military operation will continue," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, using&nbsp;Russia's term for its invasion.
Putin sent troops into&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;last year to "demilitarise" and "denazify" its neighbour but he now casts his campaign as a fight to defend&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;against an aggressive West.
Ukraine&nbsp;and the West accuse&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;of waging an illegal war to expand its territory.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; writing by Grant McCool and Himani Sarkar; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Robert Birsel)

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Russia advances in east Ukraine, strike on apartments kills civilians