That’s it from me, Charlie Moloney, and the Guardian’s live coverage of the Ukraine war for now.
Before I go, here’s a roundup of today’s developments:
The latest defence intelligence update from the UK Ministry of Defence says that over the past two weeks, Russian forces are likely to have had their highest rate of casualties since the first week of the invasion of Ukraine.
Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, cast doubt on whether Poland will be able to supply Ukraine with fighters jets. Duda said sending F-16 aircraft would be a “very serious decision” that was “not easy to take”.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Russia’s Wagner group, said the mercenary force had taken the village of Krasna Hora, on the northern edge of the embattled city of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Reuters reported. In an audio message published by his press service on the messaging app Telegram, Prigozhin said: “Today the settlement of Krasna Hora was taken by the assault troops of the Wagner private military company.”
Ukraine’s defences are holding along the frontline in Donetsk, with the fiercest battles raging for the cities of Vuhledar and Maryinka, Kyiv’s top military commander said on Saturday, Reuters reports. Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said Russia was carrying out 50 attacks a day in Donetsk, a region in Ukraine’s south-east that Moscow has been trying to occupy fully.
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Summary
Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:
Austria has come under heavy criticism for granting visas that will allow sanctions-hit Russian lawmakers to attend a Vienna meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Associated Press reports. The issue highlights the delicate balancing act the European country has engaged in while trying to maintain its longstanding position of military neutrality during the war in Ukraine.
Iran smuggled drones into Russia using boats and the state airline, sources reveal. Our Middle East correspondent, Martin Chulov, has an exclusive report on the methods used by Iran to smuggle weaponry to Russia for use in its war on Ukraine. You can read the full report here.
Andrew Anthony has interviewed the BBC’s Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg, in the Observer about the future of the war in Ukraine. Read the full Q&A here.
Two captured former Wagner soldiers have described their experiences of fighting with the mercenary group in Ukraine. Speaking to CNN, the two fighters – who were both recruited in prison, fought in Ukraine and captured – described “first wave” attacks near the village of Bilohorivka that they likened to first world war advances.
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