Russia admits to Ukrainian advances in Bakhmut; two Russian pilots killed as helicopter crashes in Crimea
Russia has said some of its troops fell back “to more advantageous defensive positions” near a reservoir north-west of Bakhmut. The defence ministry’s statement on Friday was Moscow’s first admission that Ukraine was successfully recapturing ground around the largely destroyed eastern Ukrainian city Russia has been trying to conquer for more than 10 months.
Wagner group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose troops have done most of the fighting in and around Bakhmut, said that what the defence ministry had described was in fact a “rout” that had seen troops flee. He said via his press service that Ukraine had been able to completely regain control of a crucial supply road that links Bakhmut with the town of Chasiv Yar and had seized useful higher ground.
Russian-installed officials in Luhansk have said missiles fired by Kyiv damaged two disused factories and five homes in the eastern Ukrainian region’s main city, around 100km (60 miles) behind the frontlines. Luhansk authorities said on Telegram on Friday that two Ukrainian-made “grom” tactical missiles damaged or destroyed administrative buildings at a packaging plant and a factory producing cleaning materials. No casualties were reported.
Two Russian pilots were killed when a Russian Mi-28 military helicopter crashed in the annexed peninsula of Crimea, Russian news agencies reported, citing the defence ministry. It said it believed the reason for Friday’s crash was equipment failure, Tass reported.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has thanked the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, for the provision of long-range cruise missiles. The UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, earlier confirmed that the UK would send long-range cruise missiles.
