May 10 (Portal) – A Ukrainian military unit said it drove a Russian infantry brigade out of frontline areas near Bakhmut, claiming to confirm a statement by the head of Russia’s Wagner private army that Russian forces had fled.
CONFLICT
* Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin complained that his Wagner fighters were still not getting enough shells from the Ministry of Defense to support their supposed advance at Bakhmut.
* The war in Ukraine is becoming more of a battle between large numbers of poorly trained Russian troops with outdated equipment and a smaller Ukrainian force with better Western weapons and training, NATO’s top military official said.
* Russia’s military operation against Ukraine is “very difficult”, but certain goals have been achieved, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov quoted the TASS news agency as saying on Wednesday.
BLACK SEA GRAIN OFFER
* Turkey’s foreign minister said he believes the Black Sea grain deal with Ukraine could be extended for at least two more months as officials from the parties involved held the first day of talks on an extension in Istanbul.
NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
* Russian forces are planning to evacuate more than 3,000 workers from the town that supplies the occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, leading to a “catastrophic staff shortage,” Ukrainian state-owned Energoatom said.
sanctions debate
* European Union states held a first discussion on proposed new sanctions over Russia’s war in Ukraine, which would target Chinese and Iranian companies and allow third-country export restrictions to lift trade restrictions.
WITHIN RUSSIA
* A filling station of the Druzhba pipeline in a Russian region bordering Ukraine was attacked, the TASS news agency reported, citing the Russian oil pipeline operator Transneft.
* Two drones attempted to attack a military facility in Russia’s Voronezh region but failed, the region’s governor said.
* Russia’s air defense forces shot down an “enemy” drone in the Kursk region bordering Ukraine, the governor said, adding that falling debris damaged a gas pipeline and a house.
* Two Russian soldiers from Kamchatka in the Far East have each been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for refusing to fight in Ukraine, human rights group OVD-Info said.
POLAND-RUSSIA VOLTAGE
* The Kremlin called Poland’s decision to rename the Russian city of Kaliningrad a “hostile act” in its official documents. Bilateral relations remain strained because of the war in Ukraine.
* Poland has summoned the Russian ambassador over an incident on Friday involving a Russian fighter jet and a Polish border patrol plane over the Black Sea, a Polish foreign ministry spokesman said.
CURRENT, DETAILED STORIES
* EXCLUSIVE – Turkey moves $600 million in Russian energy funding sources
* EXCLUSIVE – Oilfield company SLB pulls out as Russia sanctions tighten
* FOCUS – Why Eastern Europe’s grain producers are in for a perfect storm
* EXPLANATION – Why the EU restricts grain imports from Ukraine
* INSIGHT: Ukrainian farms are losing labor to the war, complicating a difficult harvest
* ANALYSIS – Russia’s mercenary boss is deepening the fog of the Ukraine war while shrugging off the blame
* INSIGHT – Ukraine’s nuclear deal with Canadian company Cameco harbors major risks and opportunities
* ANALYSIS – Kremlin incident gives Putin cover to escalate war
* COLUMN – Global munitions race could decide war in Ukraine
Compiled by Portal editors
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