Mercenaries of the “Wagner” PMC captured two more districts in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported on Saturday. Wagner had led the Russian effort to capture Bakhmut since last summer, the longest and deadliest battle of the war for both sides. In a message published on his Telegram channel, the group’s leader says that the ideal option for Russia would be to enter the defensive phase of the war, even suggesting that the “special military operation” should be stopped because Moscow has achieved its goals and is focusing on the territories it already occupies .

The latest on the war in Ukraine, day 417, LIVETEXT:

09:40 Since the start of the invasion on February 24, 2022, Russia has lost 182,070 troops in Ukraine, including 520 in the last 24 hours, according to the latest assessment of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, published on Sunday.

Balance published by the Armed Forces of Ukraine:

• 3657 tanks,
• 7083 combat armored vehicles,
• 5658 cars and fuel tanks,
• 2795 artillery systems,
• 538 rocket salvo systems,
• 284 air defense systems,
• 308 planes, 293 helicopters,
• 2391 drones and 391 ships.

09:27Ukrainian and Russian armed forces are engaged in extremely bloody fighting in the city of Bakhmut, even as the Ukrainian Orthodox celebrate Easter. However, Kyiv troops are still holding out, the Ukrainian army said on Saturday, according to Reuters.

09:00Russian shelling continued on Friday evening. Ukrainian officials said that Moscow hit the Sumy, Chernihiv, Donetsk, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhia regions, writes The Kyiv Independent.

Two teenagers died in Mykolaiv, the governor of the region reported.

In Donetsk, three civilians were injured, including two women who were in a pharmacy during the explosions, and a man who was near a shopping center.

08:40Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said in a speech on Saturday that 11 people, including a boy born in 2021, were killed during the recent Russian attack on Slovyansk, news.ro notes. “None of those who are guilty of this aggression can be forgiven and forgotten,” he said.

08:30Soon after Poland announced a ban on grain and other food imports from Ukraine to protect the local agricultural sector, Hungary followed suit. Both governments took the measure after an avalanche of supply depressed prices in the region, Reuters reported.

08:10 A Chinese company bought at least $7.4 million worth of copper from a plant in a Russian-annexed Ukrainian region under Western sanctions, according to Russian customs data reviewed by Reuters.

Summary for the last 24 hours:

• The death toll from Russian rocket fire on the city of Sloviansk has reached 11 after an apartment building was heavily damaged on Friday. Rescue teams continue to try to rescue people trapped under the rubble.
• A mother and daughter died on Saturday in the city of Kherson as a result of shelling by Russians, the regional administration reported, Reuters reports.
• On soft ground after the end of winter, Ukrainian soldiers trying to hold back the Russians in the Bakhmut area say it is not yet time for a counteroffensive
• Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmigal said that Ukraine will receive additional aid from the G7 countries for 5 billion dollars.
• The Polish government has decided to ban the import of grain and other food products from Ukraine in order to protect the Polish agricultural sector
• Russian President Putin signed the law on the transition to Moscow time in the annexed territories of Ukraine, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Oblast.
• The Ministry of Defense of Russia claims that the militants of the “Wagner” PMC have captured two more districts in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, Russian news agencies reported on Saturday.
• Yevhen Prigozhin, the founder of Wagner’s mercenary group, claims that the “ideal option” for now would be for Russia to stop the active phase of the “special forces operation” and “closely enter” the occupied Ukrainian territories.
• A Russian official said that four people were killed and 10 were wounded as a result of shelling from the Ukrainian side of Donetsk, which is controlled by Russia.
• Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that Washington should stop “encouraging war” in Ukraine