The Latest Breaking News from Donetsk

The eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut endured heavy artillery fire on Monday as the NATO chief backed reports from local officials that a major new Russian offensive had begun, days before the first anniversary of Moscow's invasion.

No sign Putin is ‘preparing for peace’, says Jens Stoltenberg

Russian mercenary group Wagner said it had taken control of a village near the key city of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk Oblast region

UK intelligence says Ukrainian forces also suffering high attrition rate; Andrzej Duda says decision to send F-16s would not be easy to make

Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia's Wagner Group, said on Sunday that the mercenary force had taken the village of Krasna Hora on the northern edge of the embattled Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

Ukraine's forces hold defence along the frontline in Donetsk, including of the besieged town of Bakhmut, with the fiercest battles raging for the cities of Vuhledar and Maryinka, Kyiv's top military commander said on Saturday.

The small coal-mining town of Vuhledar on Ukraine's eastern front line has emerged as a critical hot spot in the fight for Donetsk province

Ukraine has long feared a new offensive by Russian troops ahead of the anniversary of Moscow’s invasion on 24 February

But the investigation has ended, as prosecutors say there is ‘insufficient’ evidence

Investigators say findings suggest decision to provide Buk system to Donetsk separatists ‘taken at presidential level’

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Britain and others on Wednesday to give Ukraine "wings for freedom" by sending combat aircraft to help turn the tide against Russia's offensive, hoping to overcome Western reluctance to take that step. Western countries have scaled up their pledges of military aid for Ukraine this year…