Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Russian infantry brigade flees Bakhmut outskirts, Kyiv unit says

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A Ukrainian military unit said it had routed a Russian infantry brigade from frontline territory near Bakhmut, claiming to confirm an account by the head of Russia’s Wagner private army that the Russian forces had fled.

CONFLICT

* Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin complained that his Wagner fighters were still not getting enough shells from the defense ministry to underpin what he said was their advance in Bakhmut.

* The war in Ukraine will increasingly be a battle between large numbers of poorly trained Russian troops with outdated equipment and a smaller Ukrainian force with better Western weapons and training, NATO’s top military official said.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, Tass news agency cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Wednesday.

BLACK SEA GRAIN DEAL

* Turkey’s foreign minister said he thought the Ukraine Black Sea grain deal 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 PLANT

* Russian forces are planning to evacuate more than 3,000 workers from the town that serves the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, resulting in a “catastrophic lack” of personnel, Ukraine’s state-owned Energoatom company said.

SANCTIONS DEBATE

* European Union states held an initial discussion about proposed new sanctions over Russia’s war in Ukraine that would target Chinese and Iranian firms and allow export curbs on third countries for busting trade restrictions.

INSIDE RUSSIA

* A filling point on the Druzhba pipeline in a Russian region bordering Ukraine has been attacked, the TASS news agency reported, citing Russia’s oil pipeline operator Transneft.

* Two drones tried to attack a military facility in Russia’s Voronezh region but failed, region’s governor said.

* Russia’s air defense forces shot down an “enemy” drone in the Kursk region bordering Ukraine, its governor said, adding that falling debris damaged a gas pipeline and a house.

* Two Russian soldiers from Kamchatka in the far east have been sentenced to two-and-a-half years each in prison for refusing to fight in Ukraine, human rights group OVD-Info said.

POLAND-RUSSIA TENSION

* The Kremlin said Poland’s decision to rename the Russian city of Kaliningrad in its official documents was a “hostile act.” Bilateral ties continue to fray over the war in Ukraine.

* Poland summoned Russia’s ambassador over an incident on Friday involving a Russian fighter jet and a Polish border guard aircraft over the Black Sea, a spokesman for the Polish foreign ministry said.

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(Compiled by Reuters editors)