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Volodymyr Zelenskiy has visited the partially occupied region of Zaporizhzhia, where he meet with UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi. The head of the UNs nuclear agency said they had a rich exchange on the protection of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. In a message on Telegram, Ukraines president said I visited the command post of the Zaporizhzhia operational group of troops. I presented orders and medals to employees of the security service of Ukraine, the national guard, the national police, the state border guard service, and the state emergency service of Ukraine.

Ukraines ground forces commander said on Monday his troops were continuing to repel heavy Russian attacks on the eastern city of Bakhmut and that defending it was a military necessity. Ukraines military said Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi had acted during a visit to the eastern frontline to solve problematic issues that prevent effective execution of combat tasks and taken operational decisions aimed at strengthening our capabilities to deter and inflict damage on the enemy. It gave no details, and did not say when the visit took place, but Syrskyis comments signalled again Ukraines intention to keep fighting in Bakhmut despite the heavy death toll there.

Ukraine has accused Russia of destabilising Belarus and making its smaller neighbour into a nuclear hostage, after Vladimir Putins announcement that Moscow has made a deal to station tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory. The countrys opposition leader in exile, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, said the move grossly contradicts the will of the Belarusian people and reflected the further subjugation of Belarus under Russian control.

At least two people have been killed in a Russian missile strike in the eastern city of Sloviansk on Monday, according to the regional governor. The attack left 29 others wounded, Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk regional military administration, said. Zelenskiy posted to his official Telegram thatAnother day that began with terrorism by the Russian Federation. The aggressor state shelled our Slovyansk. Unfortunately, there is a dead person and victims of various degrees of severity. All services are working on the ground. Help is being provided.

Russian forces launched two missile strikes, 23 airstrikes and 38 attacks from rock salvo systems against Ukrainian troops and infrastructure in popular areas, according to the latest update from the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine.

The secretary of Russias Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, has said Nato countries are party to the conflict in Ukraine, according to excerpts from an interview with the Russian government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta on Monday.

Russian state-owned news agency Tass is carrying reports that an attempt was made this morning to assassinate the police chief in occupied Mariupol. It quotes a Russian-installed official in the occupied territory saying In the morning they blew up the car of police chief Mikhail Moskvin. He is alive, everything is in order.

RIA reported that Ukrainian forces have shelled the Kalininsky district in the occupied city of Donetsk. There are victims, it reported, without specifying further.

There have also been explosions reported in occupied Melitopol, which Vladimir Rogov, a local Russian-installed leader, ascribed to the work of air defence.

Poland has detained a foreign citizen on charges of spying for Russia, prosecutors said on Monday.

A Russian diplomat has said Moscow may seek compensation for the damage to the Nord Stream gas pipelines caused by two explosions last September, according to state media. The pipelines are multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects designed to carry Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea. The Kremlin has said it is for all shareholders to decide whether the two pipelines should be mothballed.

A Ukrainian court has sentenced a Russian-appointed social worker in the liberated eastern city of Lyman to five years in prison after finding her guilty of collaborating with Russian authorities, Ukraines prosecutor generals office said.

Russian and Belarusian athletes should be banned from the 2024 Olympics in Paris unless Moscow pulls its forces out of Ukraine, Poland said on Monday.

Belarus is accusing Poland of heightening tensions between the country and the EU by deliberately slowing the movement of trucks and cars at its border. Belarus says Poland is failing to implement bilateral agreements.

Zelenskiy on Sunday urged all Ukrainians to remain engaged with developments in the war, even though fighting has largely been concentrated in the east. Now, just as it was a year ago, one cannot be mentally far from the war, although thanks to our soldiers, real hostilities are taking place geographically far from many, said the Ukrainian president in his nightly address.

Heavy Russian shelling is turning the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka into a place from post-apocalyptic movies, according to the citys military administration head, Vitaliy Barabash. Reuters reported about 2,000 civilians were left in the city that Ukrainian forces said last week could become a second Bakhmut.

The number of Russian troops in Belarus has decreased to about 4,000, according to Ukraine. Andriy Demchenko, spokesperson for the State Border Guard Service, said there had been 10,000 in January. The majority of those remaining were training, with the rest transferred back to Russia.

Russia and China are not creating a military alliance, Putin said Sunday in a televised interview broadcast. Putin said the two countries military cooperation was transparent, news agencies reported.

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Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 397 of the invasion - The Guardian

AVDIIVKA, Ukraine When the shelling starts, the people who have remained in this town in eastern Ukraine hardly flinch. In truth, the shelling barely stops.

Russian efforts to capture Avdiivka began over a year ago and in recent weeks have escalated. On Monday, as a Ukrainian police evacuation team went from basement to basement to try again to persuade people to leave, the thud of artillery could be heard every minute or two from Russian forces that have sometimes been stationed no more than a mile away.

Do you hear? Its flying, one resident said as a rocket passed overhead. Then there is a boom, he added as it detonated.

Moscows intensified bombardment of Avdiivka and outlying villages is part of a broader offensive that has centered on the city of Bakhmut, about 34 miles to the northeast. Although Russias latest push has failed to capture any major town, its strikes have continued to lay waste to parts of eastern Ukraine.

On Monday, the towns military administrator, Vitaliy Barabash, ordered the remaining public officials to leave and barred journalists and aid workers from entering, citing safety concerns. A team of New York Times journalists visited just before the ban was announced.

Avdiivka was once a bedroom community for Donetsk, the regional capital that in 2014 fell to Russian-backed separatists. That turned Avdiivka into a frontline town and an early target when Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, although the city has remained in Ukrainian hands.

Now, out of a prewar population of 30,000 people, residents say only hundreds still live in Avdiivka. The Ukrainian authorities said on Monday that five children remained behind.

Damage from shelling and rocket fire has strewn residential communities with rubble, making streets nearly impassable by car. Schools, health clinics, shopping centers and apartment blocks have been left with gaping holes. Chunks of unexploded ordnance protrude from the streets.

Most residents who remain are middle age and older. Through the months of terror, they have moved into basements beneath the Soviet-era apartment blocks, setting up beds, makeshift kitchens, bookshelves and small Orthodox shrines in large rooms lit by candles.

Below ground, the sound of artillery barely registered. Many occupants sat on their beds and stared into space. With no electricity or running water, the basements were humid and dark, a stifling smell pervading the air.

Still, it was safer underground. One retiree said she hadnt been outside for five months.

People have stayed behind for various reasons. Some said they were too ill, others too attached to the lives they once lived. Still others said they were too poor to move.

Some appeared too paralyzed after months of shelling to make the decision to flee.

Ive been living here for 43 years. How can I leave Avdiivka? said one older resident, Polina, who emerged from a basement to drop off cat food for a neighbor and check on damage to her apartment. Like others interviewed for this article, she gave only her first name, fearing for her safety.

I understand that to stay alive is more important, she went on. But at my old age I dont want to hop around to different apartments somewhere else.

Yards from her apartment, a building was still smoking after a recent rocket strike.

In a border region with strong ties to the former Soviet Union, loyalties are sometimes divided. Two older residents appeared to support Russia and blamed both sides of the war for shelling their community.

Gennadiy Yudin, a Ukrainian medical police officer who is from Avdiivka, and a fellow officer who came to evacuate people on Monday were frequently rebuffed. Many residents knew the officers from previous visits and were used to their attempts to persuade them.

One mother, Natalya, agreed to be evacuated with her 3-year-old daughter, Marina. She was distraught as she packed their few belongings into plastic bags, in part because she said she had no money to start a new life.

Most times, when the officers approached, residents scuttled back down to their basements and slammed the door.

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Russia's Push in Eastern Ukraine Leaves Avdiivka in Ruins: Live Updates - The New York Times

25 Mins Ago

Mark Hamill attends the Premiere of Disney's "Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker" on December 16, 2019 in Hollywood, California.

Rich Fury | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

"Attention. Air raid alert," the voice says with a Jedi knight's gravitas. "Proceed to the nearest shelter."

It's a surreal moment in an already surreal war: the grave but calming baritone of actor Mark Hamill, Luke Skywalker of "Star Wars," urging people to take cover whenever Russia unleashes another aerial bombardment on Ukraine.

The intrusion of Hollywood science-fiction fantasy into the grim daily realities of war in Ukraine is a consequence of Hamill's decision to lend his famous voice to "Air Alert" a downloadable app linked to Ukraine's air defense system. When air raid sirens start howling, the app also warns Ukrainians that Russian missiles, bombs and deadly exploding drones may be incoming.

"Don't be careless," Hamill's voice advises. "Your overconfidence is your weakness."

The actor says he's admired from afar, in California how Ukraine has "shown such resilience ... under such terrible circumstances." Its fight against the Russian invasion, now in its second year, reminds him of the "Star Wars" saga, he says of plucky rebels battling and ultimately defeating a vast, murderous empire. Voicing over the English-language version of the air-raid app and giving it his "Star Wars" touch was his way of helping out.

Associated Press

An Hour Ago

Alexei Moskalyov, 54, a single parent of Maria Moskalyova, the 13-year-old girl who drew a picture critical of Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine at school in April last year, looks out through the window of his flat after he was placed under house for repeating Ukraine posts discrediting the Russian army, in the town of Yefremov in the Tula region on March 23, 2023.

Natalia Kolesnikova | Afp | Getty Images

A Russian man who was investigated by police after his daughter drew an anti-war picture at school was sentenced on Tuesday to two years in a penal colony after being convicted of discrediting the armed forces, the OVD-Info rights group said.

Alexei Moskalyov has been separated from his daughter Masha since he was placed under house arrest at the start of this month and she was moved to a children's home in their hometown of Yefremov, south of Moscow.

The case has provoked an outcry among Russian human rights activists and sparked an online campaign to reunite father and daughter.

Moskalyov was convicted over comments he himself had posted online about the war in Ukraine. But the investigation started after Masha, 12, drew a picture last April showing Russian missiles raining down on a Ukrainian mother and child, prompting the head of school to call the police.

Police began examining Moskalyov's social media activity and he was initially fined 35,000 roubles ($460) for comments critical of the Russian army.

In December, investigators opened another case against him on suspicion of discrediting the armed forces, this time based on a social media post in June.

The banned Russian human rights group Memorial said it considered Moskalyov to be a political prisoner.

A lawyer for the family visited Masha on Tuesday in a children's home and came away with drawings she had made for him. He was also allowed to photograph a letter she had written him that read "Dad, you are my hero", according to a video posted by the independent news outlet SOTAvision.

Shortly after invading Ukraine last year, Russia passed laws against discrediting the armed forces or knowingly spreading false information about them, with a maximum sentence of 15 years in jail.

Reuters

2 Hours Ago

The Kremlin said it would keep demanding an international investigation into explosions that affected the Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea last year.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that "everyone should be interested in an objective investigation involving all interested parties."

"All those who can shed light on the customers and perpetrators of this terrorist act. We consider this extremely important," he said.

In this Handout Photo provided by Swedish Coast Guard, the release of gas emanating from a leak on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea on September 28, 2022 in At Sea.

Swedish Coast Guard | Getty Images

Peskov's comments came after Russia on Monday failed to get the U.N. Security Council to approve its bid for an independent inquiry into the Nord Stream gas explosions that damaged the pipelines last September. The subsea pipelines were designed to bring gas from Russia to Germany.

"We regret that our initiative did not pass. But of course, the Russian side will continue its efforts not to silence this topic," Peskov said.

Germany, Denmark and Sweden, who are carrying out their own individual investigations into the incidents, said last month in a joint letter to the Security Council that they believed the explosions were a result of sabotage.

But Russia has complained that it has been sidelined by international investigations into the explosions and doubts the "transparency" of ongoing inquiries into the cause of the damage.

Asked Tuesday what other options Moscow could pursue, Peskov said, "It is hardly possible to answer specifically, but we will do everything in our power to continue to insist and initiate such an international investigation."

Holly Ellyatt

An Hour Ago

Civilians receive humanitarian aid and drinking water from volunteers in Chasiv Yar, Ukraine.

Civilians receive humanitarian aid and drinking water by volunteers amid Russian-Ukrainian war in Chasiv Yar, Ukraine, March 27 2023.

Ignacio Marin | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Civilians receive humanitarian aid and drinking water by volunteers amid Russian-Ukrainian war in Chasiv Yar, Ukraine, March 27 2023.

Ignacio Marin | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Civilians receive humanitarian aid and drinking water by volunteers amid Russian-Ukrainian war in Chasiv Yar, Ukraine, March 27 2023.

Ignacio Marin | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Civilians receive humanitarian aid and drinking water by volunteers amid Russian-Ukrainian war in Chasiv Yar, Ukraine, March 27 2023.

Ignacio Marin | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Civilians charge their mobiles phones at a point set up due to power outages amid Russian-Ukrainian war, in the city of Chasiv Yar, Ukraine, March 27 2023.

Ignacio Marin | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

- Ignacio Marin | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

2 Hours Ago

Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, has reportedly pledged to increase cooperation with North Korea.

Alexander Ermochenko | Reuters

The pro-Russian leader of separatists in Donetsk said Tuesday that Russian forces are advancing in the east Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed head of the self-styled "Donetsk People's Republic," told a Russian TV channel that Russian fighters have almost taken complete control of a metals plant in Bakhmut.

He said fighters in the Wagner Group private military company, who have been fighting to take control of Bakhmut for months, were "working hard" and "confidently," Pushilin said on theSoloviev LiveTV channel on Tuesday, news agency TASS reported.

Pushilin said such forces were creating "unbearable conditions" for Ukraine's armed forces and making it hard for them to supply their troops.

"They have created impossible conditions for the enemy to even carefully try to bring in combat equipment, bring in reserves, or take out even the wounded. All this is extremely difficult," he said, because all the roads are under Russian control, he claimed.

Russia was seen to be making progress in its conquest of Bakhmut in the last few months but in recent weeks, defense analysts have said its forces appeared to be losing momentum.

There has also been speculation that the Wagner Group leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has had a high-profile dispute with Russia's defense ministry, could be ready to pull his fighters out of the area, though he denied that suggestion.

Ukraine is gearing up for an expected counter-offensive although it has said it needs more weaponry from its Western allies before it launches fresh assaults to reclaim lost territory in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Holly Ellyatt

4 Hours Ago

Possible drone attacks against key energy infrastructure are a serious threat to Russia's energy security, Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov said on Tuesday.

Shulginov did not mention Ukraine by name, but Russia says it has foiled a number of attempted Ukrainian drone attacks in recent months.

Ukraine has not publicly acknowledged launching attacks against targets inside Russia, but senior officials in Kyiv have on occasion appeared to welcome the news of successful drone attacks on Russian soil.

"The key threat now is acts of illegal interference through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)," Shulginov said during a roundtable discussion where he addressed the security of Russia's energy facilities.

He said he was cooperating with Russia's defence ministry and FSB security service on the issue.

This photograph shows an object of a critical power infrastructure as it burns after a drone attack to Kyiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Sergei Supinsky | AFP | Getty Images

Russia has previously reported drone attacks in several towns and cities, some of them hundreds of kilometres (miles) from its border with Ukraine.

On Sunday, Russia's defence ministry said it had halted a UAV attack in a town 220 km (140 miles) south of Moscow, bringing down the drone over residential houses in the town of Kireyevsk.

Russia accused Ukraine of mounting drone attacks on air bases deep inside Russian territory in December, including the main base for strategic bomber planes near the city of Saratov, after flying hundreds of kilometres through Russian airspace.

Russia itself has launched waves of missile and drone strikes against Ukraine's energy infrastructure over the last six months of the conflict, often knocking out power for millions of civilians across Ukraine.

Reuters

5 Hours Ago

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko visits the Obuz-Lesnovsky training ground in Belarus on Jan. 6, 2023.

Andrei Stasevich | Belta | Reuters

Belarus' Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that it had decided to host Russia's tactical nuclear weapons reportedly because of NATO's "coercive measures" and "the build-up of military potential" in neighboring countries.

"Unilateral coercive measures in politics and the economy are accompanied by the build-up of military potential in the territory of neighboring countries NATO members in close proximity to our border," Belarus' Foreign Ministry said in a statement, reported by Russian news agency Tass.

"Considering these circumstances and the legitimate concerns and risks in the field of national security arising from them, Belarus is taking forced response actions to strengthen its own security and defense capability," the ministry said.

Russia's ally Belarus is seen as something of a bulwark for Moscow against NATO, given that it borders Poland, Lithuania and Latvia all NATO members and Ukraine to the south, and Russia to the east.

Over the weekend, Russia announced that it would locate tactical nuclear weapons (designed for use on the battlefield rather than mass wholescale destruction) within Belarus, saying President Alexander Lukashenko had made the suggestion to do so.

Minsk and Moscow both insisted the plans would not contravene international non-proliferation agreements, saying the U.S. already did the same thing with its allies and that Belarus would not have control over the weapons.

NATO criticized Russia's nuclear rhetoric, calling it "dangerous and irresponsible."

Holly Ellyatt

5 Hours Ago

Ukrainian personnel on top of a Challenger 2 tank during training at Bovington Camp, near Wool in southwestern Britain, on Feb. 22, 2023.

Toby Melville | Reuters

Ukraine's Defense Ministry said Tuesday that British Challenger 2 battle tanks have arrived in the country.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said onTwitter that the tanks had arrived in the country but did not specify when. The tweet included a video of Reznikov trying out one of the tanks.

"It was a pleasure to take the first Ukrainian Challenger 2 MBT for a spin. Such tanks, supplied by the United Kingdom, have recently arrived in our country," Reznikov wrote.

The U.K. was the first country to agree to send battle tanks to Ukraine, before Germany and the U.S. decided in January to send their own heavy tanks. The first shipment of German-made Leopard 2 tanks arrived in Ukraine Tuesday, Berlin's Defense Ministry said.

Holly Ellyatt

7 Hours Ago

Russia's Pacific Fleet fired cruise missiles at a mock target in the Sea of Japan, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

In a post on Telegram, the ministry said two of its ships were involved in the exercise that saw it fire Moskit cruise missiles supersonic anti-ship cruisemissiles at a "mock enemy" target at sea."The target, located at a distance of about 100 kilometers [62.1 miles], was successfully hit by a direct hit from two Moskit cruise missiles," the ministry claimed, saying the combat exercise was carried out safely. It did not state which ships had taken part in the exercise.

The "Varyag" guided-missile cruiser, the flagship of the Russian Pacific Fleet, docked at Kai Tak Cruise Terminal in 2017.

South China Morning Post | South China Morning Post | Getty Images

Japan's Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said Tokyo will stay vigilant against Moscow's military operations, Reuters reported. He added that no damage was reported after the missile launches.

"As Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, Russian forces are also becoming more active in the Far East, including Japan's vicinities," Hayashi told a regular press conference, the news agency said.

When asked about Russia's plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Hayashi said Japan condemned the move and demanded Russia and Belarus stop "such an action that would further increase tensions."

Holly Ellyatt

Read more here:
Ukraine war live updates: German and British tanks arrive in Ukraine; Russia fires supersonic missiles off Japan's coast - CNBC

An aerial view of Bakhmut, the site of heavy battles with Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Sunday. Libkos/AP hide caption

An aerial view of Bakhmut, the site of heavy battles with Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Sunday.

Here's a look ahead and a roundup of key developments from the past week.

The United Nations Security Council is due to convene for an emergency meeting, called by Ukraine, after Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed plans to place tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

Russia takes over the U.N. Security Council's rotating presidency in April.

The United States hosts the Summit for Democracy this week, including a virtual gathering featuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Hungary's parliament has just ratified Finland's application to join NATO. Now that leaves Turkey, whose president said it would start the process to ratify Finland's bid. But both NATO members have left Sweden's application still pending.

The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi, plans to visit the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine to assess the security situation at Europe's largest nuclear station.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov holds talks with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian on Wednesday. Lavrov is also due to talk with the foreign minister of another of Russia's friends, Nicaragua, on Thursday.

Ukraine has been pushing for phone talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last week.

China's Xi paid a three-day visit to Russia. Putin said the Chinese government's peace plan could form the "basis" of an eventual deal "when the West and Ukraine are ready."

Putin announced plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, a Kremlin-ally wedged between the two warring countries that has served as a launch pad for Russian attacks on Ukraine.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made a surprise visit to Ukraine, hours after Xi arrived in Russia.

International Monetary Fund staff agreed with Ukraine on a $15.6 billion financing package. If the IMF's board signs off, it would be Ukraine's biggest loan since Russia invaded a year ago.

Russian drone strikes hit the Kyiv region, including an educational facility, killing at least four people and injuring 20. Russia later struck a humanitarian support center in Kostiantynivka, killing at least three displaced women.

Ukraine said Russian cruise missiles were destroyed in a strike in Crimea, but did not claim responsibility for the attack. The Russian-installed head of the city of Dzhankoi reported drone attacks there.

The situation in Bakhmut could be becoming stabilized, Ukrainian army chief Gen. Valery Zaluzhny said on the Telegram social app, speaking about a city Russia has fought to take control of for months as it tries to capture the whole of eastern Ukraine's Donbas region.

The leaders of China and Russia have finished talks. Here are some takeaways.

A scrappy newscast in Kyiv aimed at Russians counters Putin's propaganda machine.

On the border with Belarus, Ukrainian troops prep for a long war and the front line.

The IMF's $15.6 billion loan to Ukraine will be its first to a country at war.

Russian drone strikes in Ukraine kill at least 4, wound another 20.

A shrinking reservoir signals Ukraine and Russia are waging a dangerous water war.

China sees itself as a mediator in the Russia-Ukraine war, but many nations disagree.

Russia's war in Ukraine is changing the world: See our updated report on its ripple effects in all corners of the globe.

You can read past recaps here. For context and more in-depth stories, you can find more of NPR's coverage here. Also, listen and subscribe to NPR's State of Ukraine podcast for updates throughout the day.

Originally posted here:
Latest in Ukraine: Putin will move tactical nuclear weapons into ... - NPR

LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) - Russian forces are moving forward in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut despite fierce resistance and have almost taken full control of a metals plant there, a Russian-installed leader in the region said.

His assertion ran counter to Ukrainian and Western descriptions of the situation in the city, which they have said is stabilising as a Russian offensive falters. Reuters has not been able to verify the battlefield situation.

The battle for Bakhmut, which Russia calls by its Soviet-era name of Artyomovsk, has for months been the grinding and bloody focal point of Moscow's war on Ukraine, which it calls a "special military operation".

Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed leader of the part of Ukraine's Donetsk region under Moscow's control, said the bulk of Ukrainian forces had been forced to pull back from the AZOM metals factory on the western side of the Bakhmutka river.

"The important thing here was to clear out the industrial zone at the plant itself. You can practically say that has now been done, with the guys just finishing off (Ukrainian) fighters there who are only left in solitary groups," said Pushilin.

Both sides say they are inflicting heavy casualties on each other in Bakhmut.

Pushilin said fighters from Russia's Wagner mercenary force were continuing to spearhead the offensive in the city.

"The (Wagner) guys are moving forward, of course they are moving forward, though it takes their hardest efforts to do that," Pushilin told state TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov.

"They have created impossible conditions for the enemy to even carefully try to bring in combat equipment, bring in reserves, or take out even the wounded. For the enemy, all this is extremely difficult because all the roads are under (Russian) fire control."

Telegram channels associated with Wagner on Tuesday published images that they said had been taken inside the metallurgical plant. They said Wagner mercenaries were flushing out small groups of Ukrainian fighters, including one holed up in an administrative building.

General Valery Zaluzhniy, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine's armed forces, said on Saturday that Kyiv had managed to blunt Russia's offensive in and around Bakhmut, where he said the situation was stabilising.

British military intelligence has said that the Russian assault has stalled, mainly as a result of heavy troop losses.

Ukrainian military commanders have said their own counter offensive - backed by newly-delivered Western hardware - is not far off, but have stressed the importance of holding Bakhmut in the meantime.

Reporting by Andrew Osborn;Editing by Kevin Liffey

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Russian forces advance in Ukraine's Bakhmut - Russian-installed ... - Reuters