Russia-Ukraine war – latest: Vladimir Putin thanks soldiers for ‘taking Bakhmut’ as Zelensky says ‘nothing left’ in city

Vladimir Putin will not break the revolve of the West in its assistance for Ukraine, United States president Joe Biden has actually said.

He made the remarks in a speech at the G7 top in Japan which has actually been controlled by Russia’s prohibited intrusion of its neighbour.

“Russia started this war and Russia can end it today by withdrawing its troops from internationally recognised borders,” Mr Biden said.

“This morning I once more shared and assured President Zelensky … that we will not waver.

“Putin will not break our resolve, as he thought he could two years ago, almost three years ago.”

Ukrainian forces have actually partially surrounded the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut along the flanks and still manage a part of the city, deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said on Sunday.

Russian president Vladimir Putin previously on Sunday praised the Wagner mercenary force and the Russian army a day after Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said his group had actually caught the city.

But Maliar said Ukrainian soldiers are continuing their advances along Bakhmut’s borders and have actually declared part of the heights ignoring the city.

“Our forces have actually taken the city in a semi-encirclement, which provides us the chance to destroy the opponent,” she composed on the Telegram messaging app.

“Therefore, the opponent needs to protect himself in the part of the city he manages.”

Maliar included that Ukrainian soldiers are still safeguarding commercial and infrastructure centers in Bakhmut in addition to an economic sector of the city.

Russia’s leading legislator on Sunday required a restriction on Polish trucks transiting Russian area and for Poland to compensate Moscow economically for what he said was the Soviet restoring of the east European nation after World War Two.

In a declaration, Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, said that Poland required to be penalized for having “betrayed the historic memory” of the Soviet Union’s freedom of the nation from Nazi Germany with a series of hostile acts versus Moscow.

In remarks particular to deepen a fight with Warsaw, Volodin said Poland existed as a state just “thanks to our nation”, said Warsaw ought to pay Russia over $750 bn to compensate it for Soviet financial investment in the nation after World War Two.

He said Poland ought to likewise restore area it received after the war.

There was no instant response to his remarks from Warsaw.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said on Sunday that it was time to reform both the Security Council and Bretton Woods to line up with the “truths these days’s world”.

Speaking at an interview in Hiroshima, Japan, where the G7 top conference had actually been held, Guterres said both organizations showed the power relations of 1945 and required to be upgraded.

“The international monetary architecture is outdated, inefficient and unjust,” he said. “In the face of the financial shocks from the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian intrusion of Ukraine, it has actually stopped working to satisfy its core function as an international safeguard.”

This video grab is drawn from handout video published on 20 May, 2023 on the Telegram account of journalism service of Concord –a business connected to the chief of Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin .

It professes to reveal members of Wagner Group waving a Russian nationwide flag and Wagner Group’s flag on the roof of a harmed building in Bakhmut, amidst the Russian intrusion of Ukraine.

Prigozhin says Wager has actually declared control of Bakhmut – Ukraine rejects this.

The prime minister said he was pleased the group of allies have actually settled on the value of offering the Ukrainian president with the innovative military equipment he requires as he promotes F-16 fighter jets.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky looked for international assistance on Sunday for Kyiv’s strategy to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, informing G7 leaders it was “an apparent expression of rationality”.

Zelensky, who is going to the G7 top in Japan personally, has actually in recent months been promoting what his administration has billed as a “peace formula”.

“We’re joined by another concept of rationality,” he said in a speech to the leaders, the text of which was published to the president’s website.

“We constantly act almost safeguarding our worths. And the Ukrainian Peace Formula is an apparent expression of rationality. I thank you for supporting our Formula.”

In a different social networks post, Zelensky said he had actually provided the strategy to G7 leaders at the Hiroshima top.

“We have actually established the Peace Formula in a manner that guarantees each of its points is backed by UN resolutions,” he composed on the Telegram messaging app.

“And in a manner that everybody worldwide can select the track they can add to. From Japan to the Arab nations, from Europe to Latin America, we discover assistance for our Formula.”

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky appears to have actually verified that Russia has actually taken control of the city of Bakhmut after a bloody eight-month fight by Moscow’s Wagner personal army.

Mr Zelensky said he believed Ukraine had actually lost the city, however included, “You need to comprehend that there is absolutely nothing,” stating of the Russians, “They destroyed whatever.”

“For today, Bakhmut is just in our hearts,” he said. “There is absolutely nothing in this location.”

Mr Zelensky was speaking together with President Joe Biden at the G7 top in Hiroshima, Japan.

Russia declared on Saturday to have actually completely caught the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which would mark an end to the longest and bloodiest fight of the 15-month war.

The attack on the mostly levelled city was led by soldiers from the Wagner Group of mercenaries, whose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said previously in the day that his soldiers had actually lastly pressed the Ukrainians out of the last built-up location inside the city.

Taking Bakhmut – which Russia describes by its Soviet-period name of Artyomovsk – would represent Moscow’s very first huge success in the dispute in more than 10 months.

“As an outcome of offending actions by Wagner attack systems, supported by weapons and air travel of the Southern Group of Forces, the freedom of Artyomovsk has actually been finished,” the Russian defence ministry said in a one-line declaration.

Russian media reported that President Putin had actually praised his soldiers.

Russia has actually rebooted regular long-range rocket strikes deep into Ukraine. They are most likely mainly targeted at degrading Ukrainian air defences because early this month, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) said today.

“Innovating on earlier waves of deep strikes, Russia has started more frequently integrating unarmed, surveillance uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) into operations. These have included Russian-produced SuperCam UAVs which are relatively cheap and have sufficient range to fly over the cruise missiles’ targets,” it said in its latest intelligence update.

Moscow has “highly likely adopted this tactic in an attempt to obtain more timely battle damage assessment and improve its targeting cycle”, the ministry included.

“The Russian military’s slow and inefficient targeting process has been a major weakness in its performance in Ukraine. However, slow surveillance UAVs are highly vulnerable to Ukrainian air defences,” it said.