Latest news about Russia and the war in Ukraine

Russia is highly likely to create a new “elite” attack aircraft group codenamed “Shtorm” (meaning “storm”) to operate over Ukraine, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said on Monday.

The unit is likely to consist of at least one squadron of Su-24 and Su-34 fighter-bombers and a squadron of attack helicopters, the ministry said in his latest intelligence update on Twitter.

“The mix of aircraft types suggests that the group will have a primary role of ground attack missions,” the ministry said, adding that credible Russian media reports suggest that the Russian Defense Ministry “aims to attract highly trained and motivated pilots by offering large salary incentives and opening up to recruitment for retired airmen.”

“The creation of the group highlights how Russian assesses that its regular air force squadrons have severely underperformed in their core function of conducting airstrikes on Ukrainian lines,” Britain said.

—Holly Ellyatt

A BBC investigation has revealed extensive Russian defenses and fortifications being prepared in occupied parts of the country ahead of Ukraine’s long-awaited counter-offensive.

BBC Verify, a new unit within the British broadcaster tasked with investigating and verifying information, video and images, said it had examined hundreds of satellite images in Ukraine and had “identified some key points in the significant build-up of trenches and other fortifications in southern Ukraine since October.”

The images showed a 15-mile section of Crimea’s coastline “filled with defensive structures installed by Russian troops” as well as defensive lines of armored trenches and dragon’s teeth (pyramid-shaped concrete blocks designed to block military vehicles) near the potential area of ​​Ukraine’s counteroffensive, in southern Ukraine.

Investigative journalists and BBC analysts also found that a series of anti-tank ditches and ditches now run alongside a major highway near the potential counter-offensive site and that the route is likely to be heavily mined; Ukraine has understandably not said where or when it will launch its counteroffensive. Read BBC Verify’s article here.

The report echoes concerns expressed by British defense analysts on Friday when they said Russia’s large-scale defense build-up could prove a challenging obstacle for Ukraine to overcome, and warned onlookers not to dismiss Russia’s military as incompetent, as it had been labeled early in the report. invasion after previous mistakes.

Read more here: Russia’s military has adapted and is now a more formidable foe for Ukraine, defense analysts say

—Holly Ellyatt

The head of the Wagner Group, Russia’s main mercenary force fighting in eastern Ukraine, played down the contribution of regular Russian army units in the alleged capture of the town of Bakhmut in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner group, claimed on Saturday that his mercenaries captured Bakhmut after nine months of intense fighting there left the city in ruins.

“Basically no one from the military/army helped us take Artemovsk (Russia uses the Soviet-era name for Bakhmut), except Surovikin and Mezentsov,” Prigozhin said, referring to Russian generals Sergei Surovikin and Mikhail Mizintsev, with whom he has good relations.

Prigozhin has a strained relationship with Russia’s Defense Ministry and has been a vocal critic of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, the head of the armed forces. Prigozhin has regularly accused the Defense Ministry of trying to undermine his forces, saying his repeated demands for more ammunition had been ignored.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Saturday that its own air and artillery units had helped the Wagner Group capture Bakhmut but gave most of the credit to the mercenary force.

In a voice message on Telegram, Prigozhin said “stories” about Russian airborne troops helping to take the city were “complete and utter lies”.

“There are really brave soldiers, great Russian guys who are completely hindered by the military… higher up.”

“It was a huge amount of people that just ruined things (for us),” he said, according to an NBC translation of the remarks.

Kiev denies that Bakhmut has been captured and says it is fighting on there.

—Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine is refusing to admit defeat in the largely ruined eastern Donetsk city of Bakhmut after Russian mercenaries claimed they were now in full control of the city after months of fighting.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that “Russia did not occupy Bakhmut” as he attended a press conference at the Group of Seven summit in Japan, rejecting claims by Russia’s mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin that his forces had fully captured the city on Saturday.

Elsewhere on Sunday, the head of Ukraine’s ground forces, Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said his forces still controlled parts of Bakhmut and were not ready to surrender.

“Despite the fact that we now control a smaller part of Bakhmut, the importance of its defense does not lose its relevance. This gives us the opportunity to enter the city in case of a change in the environment. And it will definitely happen.” Syrskyi said on Telegram.

“We continue to advance on the flanks in the suburbs of Bakhmut and are actually approaching the capture of the city in a tactical encirclement.”

Syrskyi said he had visited Ukrainian troops and commanders in Bakhmut on Sunday. “We continue the defense. The situation is difficult, but under control,” he noted.

Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s mercenary force Wagner Group, commented on Saturday that “today we took Bakhmut … We have completely taken the whole city. From house to house, so that no one could pedantically complain that a small fragment was left untaken.”

Prigozhin said that the city, now largely reduced to rubble and of little strategic importance (but of more symbolic importance after nine months of intense fighting), would be handed over to the regular Russian army.

—Holly Ellyatt