Closing summary
The time in Kyiv is just coming up to 9pm. Here is a roundup of the day’s main news:
Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s secretary general, has said alliance members must ensure Ukraine keeps getting enough arms to pursue its counteroffensive against Russia.
Ukraine is taking significant casualties and making slow progress towards the Russian main line of defence, western officials have admitted in one of the west’s first assessments of the Ukrainian counteroffensive launched on 4 June.
Ukraine reported incremental advances in its counteroffensive against Russian forces on Wednesday, in what the country’s deputy defence minister described as “extremely fierce” fighting. In the past day, Ukrainian troops had advanced 200-500 metres in various areas near the largely devastated eastern city of Bakhmut, and 300-350 metres in the direction of the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, Hanna Maliar said.
UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi delayed a trip to the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station on Wednesday for security reasons, as heavy fighting raged in southern Ukraine.
The Kremlin said it was concerned by unconfirmed media reports that a senior Chechen commander had been wounded in Ukraine. Earlier on Wednesday, the defence ministry’s TV channel reported that Adam Delimkhanov, head of Chechnya’s national guard, had been injured in Ukraine. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov later claimed that Delimkhanov was alive and well.
Kalibr missiles hit the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa at 2.40am on Wednesday, setting a warehouse, a business centre, an educational institution, restaurants and shops ablaze. It was a one of a number of attacks across the country on Wednesday that left 13 civilians dead and 24 injured.
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After a destructive feud between his top military chiefs and the mercenary warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin, Vladimir Putin has appeared to side with his top brass, calling for Russia’s “volunteer detachments” fighting in Ukraine to be placed under direct control of the defence ministry.
The decision severely undermines Prigozhin, who has turned Wagner’s role in the capture of Bakhmut into an outsized public profile in Russia that he uses to berate Putin’s generals and promote himself.
Speaking to a group of pro-war bloggers on Tuesday, the Russian president said he welcomed the defence minister Sergei Shoigu’s initiative to force mercenary groups to sign contracts with the ministry – an order Prigozhin has refused to follow.
You can read more on this story from my colleagues Pjotr Sauer and Andrew Roth here:
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