Ukraine was "reborn" when Russia invaded six months ago, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says, as the country marks 31 years of independence from the Moscow-controlled Soviet Union with a vow to drive Russian forces out completely.
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After days of warnings that Moscow could use the anniversary of Ukraine's Independence Day to launch more missile attacks on major cities, the second biggest city Kharkiv was under curfew after months of bombardment.
The anniversary on Wednesday fell exactly six months after Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine.
Celebrations were cancelled but many people marked the day by wearing vishivankas - embroidered shirts that are part of Ukraine's national dress.
In an emotional speech to his compatriots, Zelenskiy said the attack had revived the nation's spirit.
"A new nation appeared in the world on February 24 at 4 in the morning. It was not born, but reborn. A nation that did not cry, scream or take fright. One that did not flee. Did not give up. And did not forget," he said.
The 44-year-old leader, speaking in front of Kyiv's central monument to independence in his trademark combat fatigues, vowed to recapture occupied areas of eastern Ukraine as well as the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
"We will not sit down at the negotiating table out of fear, with a gun pointed at our heads. For us, the most terrible iron is not missiles, aircraft and tanks, but shackles. Not trenches, but fetters," he said.
He and his wife later attended a service in Kyiv's St Sophia cathedral along with religious leaders from all of Ukraine's major faiths.
US President Joe Biden said his country was providing Kyiv nearly $US3 billion ($A4.3 billion) for weapons and equipment in Washington's "biggest tranche of security assistance to date".
The approximately $US2.98 billion in military aid "will allow Ukraine to acquire air defence systems, artillery systems and munitions, counter-unmanned aerial systems, and radars to ensure it can continue to defend itself over the long term", Biden said in a statement released by the White House on Wednesday.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told a meeting of defence ministers in Uzbekistan that Russia had deliberately slowed down what it refers to as its "special military operation" in Ukraine to avoid civilian casualties.
On Tuesday evening, Zelenskiy warned of the possibility of "repugnant Russian provocations" and on Wednesday, Ukraine's military urged people to take air raid warnings seriously, reporting new air and missile attacks on civilian buildings.
The war has killed thousands of civilians, forced more than a third of Ukraine's 41 million people from their homes, left cities in ruins, and shaken the global economy. It is largely at a standstill with no immediate prospect of peace talks.
As well as Crimea, Russian forces have seized areas of the south including the Black Sea and Sea of Azov coasts, and chunks of the eastern Donbas region comprising the provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk.
Almost 9000 Ukrainian military personnel have been killed in the war, its military said this week. Kyiv says the invasion is an unprovoked act of imperial aggression.
Russia has not publicised its losses but US intelligence estimates 15,000 killed in what Moscow describes as an operation necessitated by threats to its security.
Moscow has set jail terms of five years for anyone referring to its actions in Ukraine as an invasion.
Russian opposition politician Yevgeny Roizman was shown being detained at his home in a video published on social media on Wednesday, telling reporters he was being arrested "basically for one phrase, 'the invasion of Ukraine'".
Moscow has installed officials in areas of Ukraine it controls but some have been assassinated. The head of the town of Mykhailivka in the Russian-controlled part of Zaporizhzhia region was killed by a car bomb on Wednesday.
Australian Associated Press
