KYIV, March 2 - Russian forces pounded Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, with airstrikes in a bid to break the will of the country’s resistance as Moscow’s offensive toward Kyiv stalled amid fierce Ukrainian counterattacks and logistics mishaps.

Russian missile debris fell near Kyiv’s central train station on Wednesday night, damaging a major heating pipeline, with the blast wave breaking the station’s windows, The Wall Street Journal reported. Thousands of civilians, particularly women and children, are sheltering in the station at night as they await evacuation trains to western Ukraine. Ukrainian officials said the missile was shot down by Kyiv’s air defenses.

In the southern part of the country, Russian forces have gained a swath of land and have entered the Black Sea port city of Kherson.

For the first time, Russia’s Defense Ministry acknowledged extensive losses in the seven days of war, saying that 498 Russian troops have been killed and 1,597 injured. Moscow said its forces killed 2,870 Ukrainian soldiers.

Ukraine hasn’t released its casualties, but says its military has killed 5,840 Russian troops. Ukrainian officials have put the invasion’s civilian death toll at about 2,000.

Kharkiv residents said the city of 1.4 million people suffered heavy bombardment for the third day in a row, including airstrikes that hit residential areas and civilian infrastructure. Kharkiv’s municipal and police headquarters, as well as the nearby university building, were severely damaged and caught fire. Local authorities reported 21 dead and 112 injured in the past 24 hours. Moscow says it isn’t targeting civilians.

Russian forces also attempted to seize the city’s military hospital, local authorities said. However, the front line held and the city, located 30 miles from the Russian border, remained under firm Ukrainian control.

“We have understood their tactic: They can’t enter the city because every time they try, we hit them in the teeth,” Kharkiv’s deputy governor, Roman Semenukha, said on Ukrainian TV. “So, instead, they are trying to sow panic with missile strikes, hitting critical infrastructure and residential areas, trying to demoralize us.”

Kyiv, too, was hit by several strikes on Wednesday night.

Russia’s war on Ukraine has now ended its first week with few signs that Moscow is closing in on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s goal of ousting the country’s elected government and ending its alignment with the West.

With the exception of a Russian advance north of Crimea, Ukrainian defenses are holding in all major urban areas under attack. The Russian attempt to quickly seize Kyiv and topple the Ukrainian leadership has stalled amid fierce resistance, low morale and logistical difficulties, Western and Ukrainian military officials said.

Ukrainian and Russian officials were slated to hold a second round of cease-fire talks near the Polish border in Belarus on Thursday. The previous round, on Monday, didn’t achieve concrete results and was followed by an intensification of Russian bombing and shelling.

In the past seven days, one million people in Ukraine have fled to neighboring countries, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said on Twitter. Grandi has previously estimated that up to 4 million refugees could flee from the fighting. (wsj/ez)