(Reuters) -Russia's military on Thursday pressed on with&nbsp;unrelenting&nbsp;attacks&nbsp;on the smashed eastern Ukrainian&nbsp;city&nbsp;of&nbsp;Bakhmut&nbsp;and also shelled the southern&nbsp;city&nbsp;of Kherson, officials in Kyiv said.
The Kremlin sees&nbsp;Bakhmut&nbsp;as pivotal in its slow-moving advance through eastern&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;more than a year after it invaded its neighbour.
Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar, writing on Telegram, said heavy fighting gripped all parts of the eastern front. She said pro-Kyiv forces repelled&nbsp;attacks&nbsp;in most areas.
"Most of the enemy's offensive efforts are occurring in the&nbsp;Bakhmut&nbsp;sector," she wrote, adding that&nbsp;Russian&nbsp;commanders had redirected troops there from other areas.
"The enemy is using its most professional units there and resorting to a significant amount of artillery and aviation. Every day, the enemy carries out in&nbsp;Bakhmut&nbsp;from 40 to 50 storming operations and 500 shelling episodes."
The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group said this week that his forces held 80% of&nbsp;Bakhmut, but the Ukrainian military said that figure was exaggerated.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other senior officials are pressing allies for more weapons that Kyiv hopes will enable it to launch a major counter-offensive later this year.
"We are readying our boys," Zelenskiy said in a video address late on Thursday. "We look forward to the delivery of weapons promised by our partners. We are bringing victory closer as much as possible."
Officials said two people had died in&nbsp;Russian&nbsp;shelling of the southern&nbsp;city&nbsp;of Kherson.
Away from the battlefield, Ukrainian officials are focusing on the massive rebuilding effort that will be needed as well as pressure from allies to show progress in tackling corruption.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, holding talks in Washington, promised to account for every dollar of U.S. aid and said reconstruction work should start this year.
He welcomed what he called the "continuous, ironclad and unprecedented support" of the United States.
Shmyhal, speaking alongside U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, said Kyiv had identified a priority funding gap of $14 billion needed this year.
He said&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;had implemented measures to account for all assistance received and undertaken more anti-corruption reforms in the past year than during many previous years combined.
Ukrainian officials are also pressing for membership in NATO - a move that Moscow has made clear it will not accept.
"There is no alternative to&nbsp;Ukraine's accession to NATO," Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov told a Black Sea security conference.
(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic and Ron Popeski, editing by David Ljunggren and Shri Navaratnam)

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Ukraine reports unrelenting Russian attacks on key city of Bakhmut