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Fighting for the defence of the eastern city of Bakhmut is intensifying, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address on Tuesday. Russian forces achieved a “breakthrough” by driving a wedge between villages north of the city in their bid to surround it, a Ukrainian military analyst said. Follow our live blog for the latest updates on the war in Ukraine. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).
8:05am: Russia amends censorship laws to punish criticism of Wagner
Russia has brought new law amendments to parliament that further strengthen the country’s censorship laws, envisaging up to 15 years in jail for discrediting the armed forces and voluntary military organisations such as the Wagner Group.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group that is trying to storm Ukraine’s Bakhmut, complained in January that there are bloggers and social media channels that discredit his fighters who can’t be punished under existing laws.
Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of the Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, said that “any public dissemination of knowingly false information about the forces” will be punishable, according to the amendments to the criminal code.
“As well as public actions aimed at discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, volunteer formations, organisations and persons who are facilitated in the implementation of tasks assigned to the … Armed Forces,” would be punishable, Volodin wrote on the Telegram messaging platform.
6:15am: Blinken warns Central Asia of dangers from war in Ukraine
US President Joe Biden’s administration has pledged to support the independence of five Central Asian nations, in a not-so-subtle warning to the former Soviet states that Russia’s value as a partner has been badly compromised by its year-old war against Ukraine.
In Kazakhstan for meetings with top Central Asian diplomats, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said no country, particularly one that has traditionally been in Moscow’s orbit, can afford to ignore the threats posed by Russian aggression to not only its territory but to the international rules-based order and the global economy.
In all of his discussions, Blinken stressed the importance of respect for “sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence”.
Blinken is due in New Delhi later today alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for a G20 meeting, with Ukraine and tensions with China set to overshadow attempts by host India to forge unity among the world’s top economies.
A meeting is seen as unlikely between the two men, who have not been in the same room since a G20 meeting in Bali in July when, according to Western officials, Lavrov walked out.
2:15am: Fighting around Bakhmut intensifying, says Zelensky
Russian forces have carried out sustained attacks on the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut in their quest for a breakthrough in the year-long war, with Ukraine’s military describing the situation there as “extremely tense”.
“The most difficult part, as before, is Bakhmut and the fighting that is essential for the city’s defence,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address, adding that “the intensity of the fighting is only increasing”.
>> Ukraine’s Bakhmut: Inside the frontline city
Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said Russian forces had driven a wedge between two villages north of Bakhmut, Berkhivka and Yahidne, in their bid to surround the city.
“This breakthrough on Bakhmut’s northern flank poses a clear threat to us,” he said in comments posted on social media.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)
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