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Regular Russian troops replacing Wagner units in Bakhmut but mercenaries remain in city, Ukraine says
We reported earlier (See 10:27) that Russia is said to have replaced Wagner private military units with regular troops in the outskirts of Bakhmut, the Ukrainian mining city that has been largely devastated by a year of deadly fighting.
Reuters has new quotes from Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, who had an update after reports of Wagner forces withdrawing from the eastern Ukrainian city and handing over their positions to regular Russian troops.
Maliar wrote in comments on the Telegram app: “In Bakhmut’s outskirts, the enemy has replaced Wagner units with regular army forces. Inside the city itself Wagner fighters remain.”
She also said that Ukrainian forces still have a foothold in the south-western outskirts of the city.
Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern military command, claimed that the number of Russian attacks in the area had fallen in the last three days, and that there had been two military engagements in the last 24 hours, though shelling continued.
You can read more on the fighting raging in Bakhmut here:
Key events
Ukraine has secured the release of 106 captured soldiers in a prisoner exchange with Russia on Thursday, according to Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff.
The soldiers, including eight officers, were captured fighting in the devastated eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut that Russia says it has captured, but where Kyiv’s forces claim they still have a small foothold, Reuters reports.
“Every one of them is a hero of our state. Many of the ones we are returning from captivity were considered missing. The relatives of these people have gone through a difficult time,” said Andriy Yermak, the senior official.
There was no immediate information available about the forces Russia received from Ukraine in exchange.
Russia summons Germany, Denmark, Sweden envoys over Nord Stream investigation
Russia’s foreign ministry said on Thursday it had summoned the ambassadors of Germany, Sweden and Denmark to protest over what it said was the “complete lack of results” of an investigation into blasts that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September last year.
In a statement, the ministry accused all three countries of trying to conceal who was behind the blasts, adding that it was unhappy about what it called the opaque nature of the investigation and its refusal to engage with Russia.
According to a UN report, the three underwater explosions that ruptured the gas link between Russia and Germany north-east and south-east of the Baltic Sea island of Bornholm on 26 September 2022 were equivalent to the power of several hundred kilograms of explosives.
The destruction of three of the four Nord Stream pipelines, which had stopped transporting gas at the point of the blasts, has been the subject of intense speculation.
The blasts occurred in the economic zones of Sweden and Denmark and both countries have said the explosions were deliberate, but have yet to determine who was responsible. The two countries and Germany have been investigating the incident.
Japan scrambled jet fighters after spotting Russian military planes over the Pacific Ocean and Sea of Japan on Thursday, the defence ministry said.
It detected one Russian information-gathering aircraft IL-20 flying round-trip from the Sea of Okhotsk to the Pacific and another IL-20 flying toward the waters near Sado Island before turning toward the continent, Reuters quotes the ministry as saying.
These claims could not immediately be independently verified.
The EU agreed on Thursday to suspend restrictions on imports from Ukraine for a further year after warding off an import ban on grain imposed by some EU nations, Reuters reports.
The Council of the EU, the grouping of EU governments, said in a tweet that EU ministers responsible for trade had agreed to the extension at a meeting on Thursday.
The EU lifted tariffs and other restrictions for an initial 12 months in June 2022. In reaction to the news, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, urged for the “temporary liberalisation” to become permanent, as he continues to seek EU accession for Ukraine.
He tweeted:
As we move towards the EU, this temporary liberalization should become permanent – without any exceptions or restrictions. I am grateful to all EU members for their support, which brings us closer to the EU accession.
I welcome today’s decision of the @EUCouncil to extend temporary trade liberalization for Ukrainian products for another year. The full abolition of duties and quotas has been extended until June 2024. As we move towards the EU, this temporary liberalization should become…
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 25, 2023
Last month, EU governments agreed to extend the suspension of duties and quotas on imports from Ukraine by a year to help its economy during the war with Russia.
Ukraine gained EU candidacy status in 2022 at record speed, but while it was an initial step to membership, the process usually takes many years to complete.
In addition to Russia announcing on Thursday that five Swedish diplomats are to be expelled from the country (See 09:46), Moscow has additionally announced its decision to close its consulate in Gothenburg, Sweden, in September, Reuters reports.
Regular Russian troops replacing Wagner units in Bakhmut but mercenaries remain in city, Ukraine says
We reported earlier (See 10:27) that Russia is said to have replaced Wagner private military units with regular troops in the outskirts of Bakhmut, the Ukrainian mining city that has been largely devastated by a year of deadly fighting.
Reuters has new quotes from Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, who had an update after reports of Wagner forces withdrawing from the eastern Ukrainian city and handing over their positions to regular Russian troops.
Maliar wrote in comments on the Telegram app: “In Bakhmut’s outskirts, the enemy has replaced Wagner units with regular army forces. Inside the city itself Wagner fighters remain.”
She also said that Ukrainian forces still have a foothold in the south-western outskirts of the city.
Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern military command, claimed that the number of Russian attacks in the area had fallen in the last three days, and that there had been two military engagements in the last 24 hours, though shelling continued.
You can read more on the fighting raging in Bakhmut here:
Unverified footage of drones being shot down over Kyiv last night has been posted by Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to the minister of internal affairs of Ukraine.
He tweeted:
Another sleepless night for many of us. Another attack on Kyiv. We hold on, go to work in the morning, thankful to our air defense and all our friends who keep Ukraine in their hearts and bring our Victory closer.
A video of drones being shot down over Kyiv – United Forces.
Another sleepless night for many of us. Another attack on Kyiv. We hold on, go to work in the morning, thankful to our air defense and all our friends who keep Ukraine in their hearts and bring our Victory closer. pic.twitter.com/17xRizG36w
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) May 25, 2023
Russia unleashed a barrage of drones against Kyiv in its 12th nighttime air assault on the Ukrainian capital this month, but the city’s air defences shot all of them down, Ukrainian authorities claimed on Thursday.
Hello everyone, this is Yohannes Lowe. I’ll be running the blog until 7pm (UK time). Please do feel free to get in touch on Twitter if you have any story tips.
Summary of the day so far …
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Russia has replaced its Wagner private military units with regular soldiers in the outskirts of Bakhmut but the group’s fighters remain inside the devastated city, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said on Thursday. Her comments appeared at least partially to confirm an announcement by Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin that his group had started withdrawing its forces from Bakhmut in east Ukraine and handing over its positions to regular Russian troops. Prigozhin had repeatedly threatened to withdraw troops from the area before it was taken, citing his dispute with the Russian military and defence establishment over supplies of ammunitions. A couple of days ago Prigozhin sarcastically suggested that his mercenary troops could be replaced by “a battalion of generals”. Yesterday he warned of a new revolution in Russia if leaders did not improve their handling of the war.
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Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak sought to downplay the idea that there was a counter-offensive coming from Ukraine that would be marked by a single significant shift of gear. He wrote: “Once again about the counter-offensive. This is not a ‘single event’ that will begin at a specific hour of a specific day with a solemn cutting of the red ribbon. These are dozens of different actions to destroy the Russian occupation forces in different directions, which have already been taking place yesterday, are taking place today and will continue tomorrow.”
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Ukraine’s defence ministry claimed to have shot down 36 out of 36 Shahad drones launched into Ukraine by Russia overnight.
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Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reported that some areas of Chernivtsi were left without power after lines were damaged by falling drone debris.
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The Russian-imposed head of Crimea’s administration said on Thursday that air defences had downed six drones overnight in different areas of the region. There were no casualties. Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014.
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Russia’s defence minister has said Belarus remains a “faithful ally and reliable partner” to Russia in the face of western states doing “everything possible … to prolong and escalate the armed conflict in Ukraine” as the two countries signed an agreement on the positioning of nuclear weapons in Belarus. During a visit to Minsk Sergei Shoigu said “deploying nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus does not transfer it to the republic control over it, and the decision on its use remains with Moscow”.
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Overnight the New York Times has reported that US intelligence officials believe that Ukraine was responsible for the drone attack which slightly damaged the Kremlin, and which Russia labelled an assassination attempt on Vladimir Putin, despite the Russian president not being in the building at the time. Kremlin spokesperson Dimitry Peskov said Russia had always held Kyiv responsible, and that it didn’t really matter exactly which Ukrainian units were behind it. Podolyak on Thursday responded by saying Ukraine had nothing to do with the “strange and pointless” attack.
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The US ambassador to Ukraine has criticised Russia over its implementation of the newly extended Black Sea grain initiative. Bridget Brink tweeted: “After repeated threats to withdraw from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Russia now refuses to allow any of the waiting 28 ships into Pivdennyi, one of the three ports designated by the agreement for food exports – a clear violation of their commitment. Russia must stop obstructing the operations of this life-saving initiative.”
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Russia has denied a fire broke out at the ministry of defence in Moscow, after users on social media and reports in the local Tass news agency said emergency services had been called to the building. State-owned Tass initially reported on a fire at the ministry early on Thursday morning, but later reported the ministry saying there was none.
Earlier today Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak sought to downplay the idea that there was a counteroffensive coming from Ukraine that would mark a significant shift of gear. He tweeted:
Once again about the counteroffensive. Without further questions.
1. This is not a “single event” that will begin at a specific hour of a specific day with a solemn cutting of the red ribbon.
2. These are dozens of different actions to destroy the #Russian occupation forces in different directions, which have already been taking place yesterday, are taking place today and will continue tomorrow.
3. Intensive destruction of enemy logistics is also a counteroffensive.
However, as my colleague Dan Sabbagh, our defence and security editor, notes: “Except, at some point, Ukrainian ground forces will need to attack with sufficient combat mass …”
Russia has replaced its Wagner private military units with regular soldiers in the outskirts of Bakhmut but the group’s fighters remain inside the devastated city, deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said on Thursday.
Her comments appeared at least partially to confirm an announcement by Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin that his group had started withdrawing its forces from Bakhmut in east Ukraine and handing over its positions to regular Russian troops.
Yesterday, Julian Borger reported for the Guardian from Kyiv that Progozhin had said that 20,000 of its fighters have been killed in the battle for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. He also warned that Russia could face another revolution if its leadership does not improve its handling of the war.
Prigozhin pointed to the social disparity underlined by the war, with the sons of the poor being sent back from the front in zinc coffins while the children of the elite “shook their arses” in the sun.
“This divide can end as in 1917 with a revolution,” he said in an interview posted on his channel on the Telegram messaging app. “First the soldiers will stand up, and after that – their loved ones will rise up. There are already tens of thousands of them – relatives of those killed. And there will probably be hundreds of thousands – we cannot avoid that.”
Reuters reports Russian prosecutors have asked a court to recognise crimes committed by Nazi Germany in the Moscow region during the second world war as a genocide against the peoples of the Soviet Union.
Russia said on Thursday it would expel five Swedish diplomats in what it said was a retaliatory measure for Sweden’s “confrontational course” in relations with Russia.
The Russian foreign ministry said it was responding to the expulsion of five of its diplomatic staff from Sweden last month, which it called an “openly hostile step”.
Relations between the two countries have worsened since Sweden last year announced its intention to join Nato after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Reuters reports the Russian statement said ties had “reached an unprecedented low”.
A senior Ukrainian presidential aide said on Thursday that Ukraine had nothing to do with a “strange and pointless” drone attack on the Kremlin and played down the findings of two US media reports.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, told Reuters in a statement that Russia was trying to reduce arms supplies to Kyiv by playing on western fears of a possible escalation because of alleged Ukrainian attacks on Russian soil.
The New York Times reported that assessments by US spy agencies showed that a drone attack on the Kremlin this month was probably orchestrated by one of Ukraine’s special military or intelligence units. Moscow blames the attack on Ukraine.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency/news feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor.
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