The Ukrainian army is holding on to Donetsk region and is not thinking of retreating, and the bloodiest battles are taking place in Bakhmut, including on the streets of the city.

Current information about the war in Ukraine, 375th day, TEXT:

07:51 In a new video released Saturday, the head of Wagner’s mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, launches an unprecedented attack on the Kremlin just as Russian forces appear to be bringing Moscow a welcome victory on the battlefield after a long period of stumbling. and failures, conquering the city of Bakhmut, where bloody battles are fought. The news agency TASS also reported on the message of “Putin’s cook”, but the article was later deleted.

Summary of events for the last day:

• Deputy Mayor Bakhmut said on Saturday that there was fighting in the streets, but that Russia had not yet taken control of the city. The official’s statement is supported by the Ukrainian military, which denies that a mass withdrawal of troops is being prepared.
• A woman was killed and two men were seriously wounded in shelling on Saturday as they tried to cross a makeshift bridge from Bakhmut, according to Ukrainian troops assisting them.
• Ukraine ordered the mandatory evacuation of families and socially vulnerable residents from the front-line city of Kupyansk and adjacent territories in the northeast of the country. The corresponding order was given due to the “unstable security situation” caused by Russia’s constant shelling of the city and its surroundings. Russian troops withdrew from key cities in the northeastern Kharkiv region, including Kupyansk, which Ukraine recaptured last September.
• Russian artillery shelled the last exit routes from Bakhmut, aiming to complete the encirclement of the besieged city in eastern Ukraine. Reuters observed heavy Russian shelling of routes west of Bakhmut in an apparent attempt to block Ukrainian forces from getting in and out of the town.
• Russian Defense Minister Serhiy Shoigu announced that he visited Russian troops in Ukraine. In a message published on the Telegram channel, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that Shoigu “inspected the advanced command post of one of the compounds of the Eastern Military District in the southern direction of Donetsk.”
• Britain’s Ministry of Defense said in an assessment on Saturday that Ukrainian forces were under “severe pressure” in Bakhmut, adding that Ukrainian supply routes from the besieged city were becoming “increasingly limited”.
• During her visit on Saturday, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metzola, called to allow Ukraine to start negotiations on joining the EU this year. She said she was “hopeful” that talks could begin “this year”.
• Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said he is confident that Western countries will supply fighter jets to Kyiv and is optimistic that the war will end this year. In an interview with the German newspaper Bild, Reznikov said that Ukraine expects to receive “two or three different types” of fighters and that he believes that this will again be done through some kind of coalition, meaning – a “tank coalition” through which the Leopard 2 tanks will be supplied by the Western Allies.
• The first major step to hold Russia accountable for war crimes will be taken at an international conference in Lviv in western Ukraine this weekend, when an agreement on a special center to prosecute Vladimir Putin will be signed, DPA and Agerpres reported.