• Ukrainian and Russian armed forces are fighting extraordinarily bloody battles in the ruined eastern city of Bakhmut, but pro-Kyiv forces are still holding on, Ukraine’s military says.

 Reuters reported that Russia’s defense ministry said earlier on Saturday that fighters from the Wagner mercenary group had captured two more areas of Bakhmut, the main target of Moscow’s offensive in eastern Ukraine. 

Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern military command, told the 1+1 television channel:

"Bloody battles unprecedented in recent decades are taking place in the middle of the city’s urban area.

Our soldiers are doing everything in bloody and fierce battles to grind down [the enemy’s] combat capability and break its morale. Every day, in every corner of this city, they are successfully doing so. 

The Russian defense ministry said Wagner units had taken two areas on the northern and southern outskirts of the city. Russian army paratroop units were supporting the claimed advance by holding back Ukrainian forces on the flanks, it added.

Reuters could not independently confirm the report.

The UK said in an intelligence update on Friday that Ukrainian troops had been forced to cede some territory in Bakhmut as Russia mounted a renewed assault there.