Some residents leave southern city in lead-up to 56-hour curfew amid speculation the city is about to be used as a launch point for counterattack
Hello and welcome back to our coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war, now in its 437th day. I’m Adam Fulton and let’s begin with a rundown on the latest events.
Increasing attacks on Russian infrastructure in recent weeks are part of Ukraine’s preparations for its long-anticipated spring offensive, experts suggest.
The leader of Russia’s Wagner mercenary force has said that his forces will leave Bakhmut, which they have been trying to capture since last summer. Yevgeny Prigozhin said they would pull back on Wednesday 10 May – ending their involvement in the war’s longest battle – because of heavy losses and inadequate ammunition supplies and asked defence chiefs to put regular army troops in their place. But Ukraine said Wagner fighters were reinforcing positions to try to seize the eastern city before that date.
Prigozhin earlier released a video showing him standing in a field of Russian corpses and blaming defence chiefs for the losses suffered by his fighters in Ukraine, appearing to reignite his simmering feud with Russian top brass.
Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, has carried out an inspection of troop readiness for forces engaged in the war, in an apparent coded response to Prigozhin’s criticism.
