Russia-Ukraine Conflict

Updates on the Russia-Ukraine Conflict

• The Russian-imposed leader of Donetsk claims that demining has begun in Bakhmut, though Ukraine denies that Russia has full control over the city.
• Ukrainian troops are still advancing on the flanks of Bakhmut, but the intensity of their movement has decreased and Russia is bringing in more forces.
• Russian president Vladimir Putin congratulated Wagner and Russian regular forces on "the completion of the operation to liberate Artemovsk [the city's Soviet-era name]" after Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin posed among the wreckage, and said his mercenary group controlled the entire city at the weekend.
• The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been switched to standby and emergency power supply generators after Ukraine disconnected a power line it controls.
• The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, has said the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) "cannot continue".
• At least eight people were wounded and scores of buildings were damaged in a Russian air attack on Dnipropetrovsk region.
• Russia's ambassador to the US warns that any strike on Crimea could be considered a strike on Russian territory by NATO after US president Joe Biden said he would support training for Ukrainian pilots on US F-16 fighter jets.
• The EU's top diplomat will propose further sanctions against Russia, following a promise by G7 leaders to intensify western restrictions on Vladimir Putin's ability to wage war on Ukraine.
• US president Joe Biden announced military assistance worth up to $375m (£300m) to Kyiv, including ammunition, artillery, armored vehicles, and training.
• Biden received a "flat assurance" from Zelenskiy that he would not use western-provided F-16 fighter jets to go into Russian territory.
• Berlin police have opened an investigation into the suspected poisoning of two Russian journalists visiting the city for a conference last month organized by the Russian Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
• Ukrainian President Zelenskiy sought support for his "peace formula" to end the war in Ukraine at the G7 summit, where he secured fresh military aid from the US.