Russia Ukraine war latest: Putin’s forces ‘suffer losses during heavy fighting near Bakhmut’

Ukraine said on Monday its forces had gained some ground along eastern and southern fronts in the past week in heavy fighting with Russian troops, reclaiming 37.4 square kilometres (14.4 square miles) of territory.

Ukrainian forces were advancing in the Bakhmut direction, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said, adding that Russian forces were attacking in the Lyman, Avdiivka and Mariinka directions in the Donetsk region.

“Heavy fighting is going on there now,” Maliar said on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukraine had reclaimed nine square kilometres over the past week along the eastern front “as a result of improving the operational (tactical) position and aligning the front line”, Maliar said.

In the south, Ukraine has regained 28.4 kilometres of territory, bringing the total area of re-captured territory along that front to 158.4 kilometres, Maliar added.

Over the weekend, Russia said its forces had repelled Ukrainian attacks near villages ringing Bakhmut and in areas further south, particularly near the hilltop town of Vuhledar. They also reported success in containing Ukrainian troops in the northeast.

Reuters could not confirm any of the battlefield accounts.

The Foreign Secretary will hail the “close and friendly” co-operation between London and Brussels in a speech to EU parliamentarians.

James Cleverly is expected to meet top EU figures on Monday, with his speech likely to look ahead to better and more “mature” post-Brexit relations.

“This is a new chapter in the UK-EU relationship.

“We stand together in our support of Ukraine, and we want to maximise the opportunities of our trade deal,” he said ahead of his trip to Brussels.

Russia’s armed forces are bruised but by no means beaten in the war in Ukraine, a top NATO military officer said Monday, as he laid out the biggest revamp to the organization’s military plans since the Cold War should Moscow dare to widen the conflict.

“They might not be 11 feet tall, but they are certainly not 2 feet tall,” the Chair of the NATO Military Committee, Admiral Rob Bauer, told reporters. “So, we should never underestimate the Russians and their ability to bounce back.”

U.S. President Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts are set to endorse a major shakeup of the alliance’s planning system at a summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius next week.

The head of Russia‘s navy, Nikolai Yevmenov, met Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu in Beijing on Monday, the TASS news agency cited the ministry as saying.

The two men discussed strengthening cooperation in the Pacific, TASS reported.

At least one person was killed in the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy on Monday when a Russian drone crashed into a residential building, a senior Ukrainian official said.

Andriy Yermak, head of Ukraine‘s presidential staff, said on the Telegram messaging app that the drone had hit a five-storey building.

Kyiv’s air force had earlier reported shooting down 13 of 17 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Moscow overnight in a separate attack.

Russia, which launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has stepped up air strikes against Ukraine in recent weeks, and Ukraine has launched a counteroffensive to try to retake occupied territory.

Did mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin have inside help from the military and political elite in his armed rebellion that rattled Russia?

A week after the mutiny raised the most daunting challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s rule in over two decades, key details about the uprising are still unknown.

Uncertainty also swirls around the fate of Prigozhin and his Wagner private military forces, along with the deal they got from the Kremlin, and what the future holds for the Russian defense minister they tried to oust.

Finally, and perhaps the biggest unknown: Can Putin shore up the weaknesses revealed by the events of last weekend?

A Russian soldier has been sentenced to seven years in prison for twice escaping from his army unit, a military court in the Siberian city of Tomsk said on Monday.

According to the court, which identified the man by the initial K., the soldier was called up for service last September during what the Russian government described as a “partial” mobilisation of 300,000 reservists.

It said K. absconded from his unit in mid-December and was caught on March 3. Later that month, he deserted again, only to be found in early April.

Siberia.Realities, a local project of U.S. government-funded news outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, identified the soldier as Ivan Klester.

Last month a military court in Russia’s Far East sentenced a soldier to nine years for deserting three times. The man pleaded guilty, saying that he had to care for his sick wife, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported.

President Vladimir Putin signed a law last September to toughen punishments for a host of crimes such as desertion, damage to military property and insubordination if they are committed during military mobilisation or combat situations.

There is little data on how many have been convicted under the codes, although cases of soldiers refusing to fight have also surfaced.

Russia’s combat preparedness is under heightened scrutiny as Ukraine’s long-awaited counteroffensive takes shape, and following a mutiny late last month by the Wagner mercenary group that had fought some of Russia‘s bloodiest battles against Ukrainian forces.

TASS news agency quoted a Russian lawmaker, Colonel General Andrei Kartapolov, as saying on Monday that “no new wave of mobilisation will be required”, despite Wagner’s departure from the battlefield.

Ukraine‘s counter-offensive against Russian forces is proving difficult due to landmines and other obstacles but Ukrainian forces are right to proceed cautiously, NATO’s top military official said on Monday.

“The counter offensive, it is difficult,” said Admiral Rob Bauer, a Dutch military officer who is the chair of NATO’s military committee.

“People should never think that this is an easy walkover. It will never be,” he told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Ukrainian forces face defensive obstacles sometimes up to 30 kilometres deep as they attempt to break through Russian lines, Bauer said, drawing on a historic comparison to make his point.

“We saw in Normandy in the Second World War that it took seven, eight, nine weeks for the allies to actually break through the defensive lines of the Germans. And so, it is not a surprise that it is not going fast,” he added.

Satellite images reviewed by Reuters in April showed Russia had built extensive fortifications, trenches, anti-vehicle barriers and other obstacles to slow any Ukrainian advance.

Bauer’s comments echoed remarks by General Mark Milley, the top U.S. military officer, who said on Friday the counter-offensive would be very difficult, very long and “very, very bloody”.

Bauer said Ukrainian forces were right to be cautious to avoid high casualties as they probed for possible breakthroughs.

“It is extremely difficult, this type of operation and I think the way they do it is commendable,” he said.

He said Ukrainian forces should not face pressure or criticism for not moving more quickly.

“This is a very, very difficult time for them,” Bauer said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine‘s military was making progress in its counteroffensive to retake Russian-occupied territory despite facing difficulties.

“Last week was difficult on the front line. But we are making progress,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

“We are moving forward, step by step! I thank everyone who is defending Ukraine, everyone who is leading this war to Ukraine‘s victory!”

The brief mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group last month did not affect Russia‘s “special military operation” in Ukraine, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Monday.

In his first comments about the mutiny, whose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin wanted the minister dismissed, Shoigu said that plans to destabilise Russia had failed because of troops’ loyalty.