© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A man walks past the International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo at its headquarters in Washington, U.S., May 10, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/
(Reuters) – Ukrainian and Russian forces battled in the streets of Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine’s devastated “fortress” city, and Ukrainian soldiers said they were ready to launch their long-anticipated counter-offensive once the weather improves.
FIGHTING
* The head of Russia’s private Wagner militia said Ukrainian forces were not abandoning Bakhmut but that, even if they did, he would need more support from the regular Russian military before trying to advance further.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had on Wednesday raised the prospect of a withdrawal from the city, saying Kyiv would take the “corresponding” decisions if its forces risked being encircled by Russian troops.
* Western analysts have played down the strategic significance of Bakhmut but Ukraine has framed its dogged defence of what is now a totally destroyed city as a way of wearing down Russian forces. Both sides have suffered huge casualties there.
* “Bakhmut is performing the key task of inflicting as many losses on Russia as possible and, most importantly, to prepare for a counter-attack to take place in late April-May,” Pavlo Narozhniy, a Ukrainian military analyst, told NV Radio.
* Ukrainian military expert Vladyslav Selezniov said Ukraine would be able to defend positions in the more heavily built-up west of Bakhmut as long as their route to the west, the “road of life” for getting supplies in and wounded out, remained open.
* Fighting also continues to rage further south around Avdiivka, a town near the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk.
* Reuters could not verify the battlefield reports.
DIPLOMACY, POLITICS
* French President Emmanuel Macron urged China’s Xi Jinping to reason with close ally Russia to help end the Ukraine war, while Xi responded by saying he hoped the two sides could hold peace negotiations as soon as possible.
* However, an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin rated the chances of peace talks starting this year at “zero”.
* The Kremlin defended its decision to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, rejecting criticism of the move by NATO’s secretary-general. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the U.S.-led transatlantic alliance was the one expanding towards Russia, not the other way round.
* Putin said there was reason to believe Western intelligence agencies were involved in what he said were sabotage and terrorist acts carried out by Ukraine.
* Russia’s Foreign Ministry complained that Western countries had not expressed concern over the killing of a military blogger with a bomb in St Petersburg on Sunday, which Russia has called an act of terrorism.
QUOTES
“We are ready, we have to do it (Ukrainian counter-offensive), the sooner, the better. The enemy must be chased away. At the moment we are waiting for the weather to change, the mud is an obstacle.” -Naza, a 21-year-old unit commander of soldiers manning trenches near Bakhmut
* “If the Kiev offensive fails, the West will be short of weapons and at that point Russia will be able to mobilise 400,000 men for the final attack.” -Dmitry Suslov, a Putin adviser
