Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

Russia is highly likely to be creating a new “elite” attack aviation group code-named “Shtorm” (which means “storm”) to operate over Ukraine, the British Ministry of Defense said 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 its latest intelligence update on Twitter.

“The mix of aircraft types suggests 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 skilled and motivated pilots by offering large pay incentives and opening recruitment to retired aviators.”

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

— Holly Ellyatt

A BBC investigation has revealed extensive Russian defenses and fortifications that have been prepared in occupied parts of the country ahead of Ukraine’s much-awaited counteroffensive.

BBC Verify, a new unit within the British broadcaster charged with investigating and verifying information, video, and images, said it had examined hundreds of satellite images of 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 Crimean coastline “littered with defence structures installed by Russian troops” as well as defensive lines of anti-tank 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 analysts at the BBC also found that a line of anti-tank ditches and trenches now runs alongside a major highway near the potential counteroffensive 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 voiced by British defense analysts last Friday when they said Russia’s large-scale defense-building could prove a challenging obstacle for Ukraine to overcome, warning onlookers not to dismiss Russia’s military as incompetent, as it had been labelled early on in the invasion after previous mistakes.

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

— Holly Ellyatt

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

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group, claimed on Saturday that his mercenary fighters captured Bakhmut after nine months of intense fighting there reduced the town to rubble.

“Basically no one at all out of the military/army helped us in the taking of Artemovsk [Russia uses the Soviet-era name for Bakhmut], other than Surovikin and Mezentsov,” Prigozhin said, referring to Russian Generals Sergei Surovikin and Mikhail Mizintsev, with whom he has good relationships.

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 calls for more ammunition had been ignored.

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

Speaking in a voice message on Telegram, Prigozhin said “stories” about Russian airborne troops helping to capture the town were “complete and absolute lies.”

“There are indeed courageous soldiers, amazing Russian guys that are completely hindered by the military … higher ups.”

“There was an enormous amount of people that just ruined things [for us],” he said, according to an NBC translation of the comments.

Kyiv denies that Bakhmut has been captured, saying it fights on there.

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine is refusing to concede defeat in the largely ruined town of Bakhmut in Donetsk in the east of the country after Russian mercenary forces claimed they were now fully in control of the town after months of fighting.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that “Russia did not occupy Bakhmut” as he attended a news conference at the Group of Seven summit in Japan, rebuffing claims by Russia’s mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin that his forces had completely captured the town Saturday.

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

“Despite the fact that we now control a minor 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 the Wagner Group, commented on Saturday that “today we took Bakhmut … We have fully taken the whole city. From house to house, so that no one could pedantically complain that a tiny fragment was left un-taken.”

Prigozhin said the town, 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