By Dan Peleschuk and Sergiy Chalyi
KYIV/ZAPORIZHZHIA,&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;(Reuters) -Russian&nbsp;drones attacked Ukrainian cities and&nbsp;missiles&nbsp;blasted an apartment block, but a months-long ground assault on the eastern town of&nbsp;Bakhmut&nbsp;could be&nbsp;stalling&nbsp;in the face of fierce resistance, according to Ukrainian and British&nbsp;military&nbsp;experts.
Russian&nbsp;forces unleashed a wave of air strikes in the north and south of&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;as President Vladimir Putin bid farewell on Wednesday to Chinese leader Xi Jinping following a two day visit to Moscow by his fellow autocrat and "dear friend".
But staunch resistance by Ukrainian defenders in&nbsp;Bakhmut, the site of Europe's deadliest infantry battle since World War Two, led British&nbsp;military&nbsp;intelligence to believe Russia's assault on the town could be running out of steam.
There was still a danger, however, that the Ukrainian garrison in&nbsp;Bakhmut&nbsp;could be surrounded, Britain's defence ministry said in its intelligence update on Wednesday.
Ukraine's&nbsp;military&nbsp;General Staff agreed that Russia's&nbsp;offensive&nbsp;potential in&nbsp;Bakhmut&nbsp;was declining.
In a show of defiance, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office released a video of him handing out medals to troops it said were near the&nbsp;Bakhmut&nbsp;front line.
Bakhmut&nbsp;has become a key objective for Moscow, which sees the town as a stepping stone toward completing its conquest of the eastern Donbas region.
"The enemy continues to conduct&nbsp;offensive&nbsp;operations, suffering major casualties, losing significant amount of weapons and&nbsp;military&nbsp;equipment," said the General Staff of the&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;Army said in a Thursday morning report.
"Ukrainian defenders have been repelling numerous round-the-clock enemy attacks in the vicinities of&nbsp;Bakhmut, Bohdanivka, and Predtechyne," it said, adding that numerous settlements near the line of contact were shelled.
The&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;military&nbsp;said that 660&nbsp;Russian&nbsp;troops, 13 tanks, one air defence system, 11 armoured personnel carriers were destroyed in a past day.
Reuters could not verify the battlefield report.
During Wednesday night, air raid sirens blared across the capital Kyiv and parts of northern&nbsp;Ukraine, and the&nbsp;military&nbsp;said it had shot down 16 of 21 Iranian-made Shahed suicide drones.
Firefighters battled a blaze in two adjacent residential buildings in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, where officials said at least one person was killed and 33 wounded by a twin missile strike.
In Rzhyshchiv, a riverside town south of Kyiv, at least eight people were killed and seven injured after a drone struck two dormitories and a college, regional police chief Andrii Nebytov said.
"This must not become 'just another day' in&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;or anywhere else in the world. The world needs greater unity and determination to defeat&nbsp;Russian&nbsp;terror faster and protect lives," Zelenskiy tweeted, along with a video of security camera footage showing a building exploding.
A playground and a car park at the scene in Zaporizhzhia were littered with glass, debris and wrecked cars. Emergency workers brought out the wounded along with anyone unable to walk.
An elderly woman with a scratched face sat alone on a bench, wiping tears and whispering prayers.
"When I got out, there was destruction, smoke, people screaming, debris. Then the firefighters and rescuers came," said Ivan Nalyvaiko, 24.
International groups estimate rebuilding&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;will cost $411 billion - 2.6 times&nbsp;Ukraine's 2022 gross domestic product.
CHINA-RUSSIA UNITY
Hosting Xi in Moscow this week was Putin's grandest diplomatic gesture since he ordered the invasion of neighbouring&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;13 months ago and became a pariah in the West.
The two men referred to each other as "dear friend", promised economic cooperation, condemned the West and described relations as the best they have ever been.
Xi departed telling Putin: "Now there are changes that haven't happened in 100 years. When we are together, we drive these changes."
"I agree," Putin said.
But the public remarks were notably short of specifics, and during the visit Xi had almost nothing to&nbsp;say&nbsp;about the&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;war, beyond that China's position was "impartial".
The White House urged Beijing to pressure Russia to withdraw. Washington also criticised the timing of the trip, just days after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin on war crimes charges.
China has proposed a peace plan for&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;that the West largely dismisses as vague at best, and at worst a ploy to buy time for Putin to regroup his forces.
Ukraine&nbsp;says there can be no peace unless Russia withdraws from occupied land. Moscow&nbsp;says Kyiv must recognise territorial "realities" after its claim to have annexed nearly a fifth of&nbsp;Ukraine.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

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Russian missiles batter Ukraine, but Bakhmut offensive seen stalling