Ukrainian forces have reportedly blown up a bridge near the eastern city of Bakhmut, in a sign they may be planning to retreat from the area. Ukraine denies it intends to leave Bakhmut, despite six months of heavy fighting and reportedly dwindling stockpiles. The capture of Bakhmut would give Russia a significant symbolic boost ahead of the first anniversary of the war.
Ukrainian defenders who have held out for months are braced for new ground attacks, Ukrainian military officials have said. The eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut is facing heavy artillery fire, according to local officials. “The city, the city’s suburbs, the entire perimeter, and essentially the entire Bakhmut direction and Kostyantynivka are under crazy, chaotic shelling,” said Volodymyr Nazarenko, deputy commander of Ukraine’s Svoboda battalion, on Monday. The Ukrainian military reported 16 settlements had been bombarded near Bakhmut.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy thanked Ukrainian soldiers for “preventing the occupiers from encircling Bakhmut”. The capture of Bakhmut would give Russia a new foothold in the Donetsk region and constitute a rare victory after months of setbacks.
In the last three days, Wagner Group forces have almost certainly made further small gains around the northern outskirts of Bakhmut, including into the village of Krasna Hora, the UK Ministry of Defence said Tuesday. However, organised Ukrainian defence continues in the area and the tactical Russian advance to the south of the town has likely made little progress, the latest British intelligence report adds.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner group whose mercenaries have been fighting for months to take the eastern city of Bakhmut, has said the battle is far from over. In a Telegram post, Prigozhin said Ukraine was reinforcing with up to 500 new fighters a day. “Bakhmut will not be taken tomorrow, because there is heavy resistance and grinding, the meat grinder is working,” he said, adding “We will not be celebrating in the near future.”
Russian forces have made incremental progress in the last day or two in their assault on the Ukrainian city of Bahkmut but it is unclear if it will fall, the White House has said. John Kirby, the US national security council spokesperson, added that if Bakhmut were to fall to the Russians “it would not have a strategic impact on the overall war”.
A major new Russian offensive has begun, Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has said. Speaking ahead of a two-day meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels, on Monday Stoltenberg said Russia was “sending more troops, more weapons, more capabilities”. Nato planned to increase its ammunition stockpile targets and he expected possible supply of aircraft to Ukraine to be discussed. Stoltenberg said Ukraine’s use of ammunition was “many times higher than our current rate of production”.
Stoltenberg said on Tuesday it was more important that Finland and Sweden’s applications to join the alliance were ratified quickly than together. The two countries applied to join Nato following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and their membership bids have been ratified by all allies except Hungary and Turkey. Turkey is widely seen as the main hold-up. Ankara has demanded that both countries take a tougher line against the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist group by Turkey and the European Union.
Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, has taken part in the Nato ministerial talks in Brussels. Reznikov said his goals included protecting Ukraine’s skies, “strengthening the tank coalition”, securing sufficient ammunition, ensuring more training for the Ukrainian army and stable logistics, maintenance and repair of weapons. A meeting of the Ukraine defence contact group, a US-initiative that convenes more than 50 countries supporting Kyiv in its defence against Russian aggression, met in Brussels ahead of Nato ministerial talks.
The US secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, has said he expects Ukraine to conduct an offensive against Russia in spring. Speaking at a news conference following a meeting of the Ukraine defence contact group, Austin said Russia is introducing a number of new troops to the battlefield but that many are ill-trained and ill-equipped. Russia has “inflicted a year of tragedy and terror” on its neighbour Ukraine, he said.
Russia has lost “strategically, operationally and tactically”, Gen Mark Milley, chairman of America’s joint chiefs of staff, has said. Speaking at a joint news conference with Lloyd Austin, Milley said Russians were “paying an enormous price on the battlefield” in Ukraine.
Russia has again criticised Nato over its stance towards the war in Ukraine. “Nato is an organisation which is hostile to us and which proves this hostility every day,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “It is trying its best to make its involvement in the conflict around Ukraine as clear as possible.”
Norway has announced it will send eight German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks and other equipment to Ukraine. In a statement, Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre said it was “more crucial than ever to support Ukraine’s fight for freedom”. The announcement comes a day after Støre spoke with Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a phone call, where the pair discussed Norway’s five-year pledge for Ukraine.
Germany has signed contracts with Rheinmetall to restart the production of ammunition for the Gepard anti-aircraft guns it has delivered to Kyiv, German defence minister Boris Pistorius said on Tuesday.
The US has told Ukraine it will not send long-range missiles because it has too few to spare, according to a report. US officials have said transferring Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to the battlefield in Ukraine would risk a shortage of its own stockpiles and damage its own readiness for any fight in the future, sources have told Politico.
Shipping and coastal communities around Ukraine’s major seaport hub of Odesa received a warning from military officials on Tuesday over the high risk of naval mines drifting along the coast and washing ashore. Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of using mines off the Ukrainian coast, which prevents safe navigation in the region. The Soviet-made mines were anchored, but in a storm some of them could come loose and be carried by the current.
Two Dutch F-35 fighters were scrambled to intercept three Russian military aircraft near Poland, according to the Netherlands’ defence ministry. Poland’s defence ministry confirmed that Dutch F-35 fighter jets were scrambled on Monday to intercept three Russian aircraft. The F-35 fighters were operating over international waters and Polish airspace was not violated, it said.
A British national has died in Ukraine, the UK government has said. The identity of the individual is not yet known, but their family has been informed. They are believed to be the eighth British national to have died in Ukraine since the war began last February.
One Ukrainian worker was killed and many have been hurt in recent days trying to repair the power network following Russian airstrikes, according to energy minister German Galushchenko. Russian unleashed a wave of airstrikes on Friday, targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and causing emergency power outages for millions of people. In a statement, Galushchenko and Ukraine’s grid operator Ukrenergy said the country was producing enough energy to meet consumers’ needs.
The UK says it will mark the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with a national moment of silence. Prime minister Rishi Sunak will lead a one-minute silence at 1100 GMT on 24 February, in an expression of solidarity with Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies have begun training Ukrainian troops on the Leopard 2 and other modern battle tanks. Germany started training Ukrainian soldiers on the Leopards on Monday at an army base in the northern town of Munster. Ukrainian troops are also being trained by Polish, Canadian and Norwegian instructors at a military base in Swietoszow, south-west Poland.
Moldova’s president, Maia Sandu, accused Russia Monday of planning to use foreign saboteurs to overthrow her country’s government, prevent it from joining the EU and use it in the war against Ukraine. Sandu’s comments on Monday came after Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said his country had intercepted plans by Russian secret services “for the destruction of Moldova” – this was later backed up by Moldovan intelligence officials.
A South Korean court has granted two Russians who fled their country to avoid being drafted to fight in Ukraine the right to apply for refugee status. The two men, who have been stranded at Incheon International Airport, near Seoul, since last October, will be able to leave the terminal building and enter the country, the court said. The court denied a similar request from a third Russian citizen, without detailing the reasons for the decision.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, has admitted that he founded and financed a company the US has described as a “Russian troll farm” which meddled in the 2016 presidential election. Prigozhin’s statement outlined his specific links to the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a St Petersburg-based company that US intelligence officials say was central to Russian efforts to sway the 2016 presidential election.
