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Ukraine has survived the "most difficult winter" in its history, enduring months of Russian strikes on critical infrastructure, the country's foreign minister said on Wednesday. Fighting to defend the eastern city of Bakhmut from Russian forces was intensifying, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday. Follow our live blog for the latest updates on the war in Ukraine. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).
1:15pm: Russian assaults meet 'furious' resistance in Bakhmut
Ukrainian forces are fiercely resisting Russian attempts to seize the eastern city of Bakhmut and are throwing extra reserves into the battle, Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia's Wagner mercenary force, has said.
Prigozhin's men have spearheaded the assault in eastern Ukraine for months with Moscow regarding Bakhmut as a useful stepping stone to seize bigger cities like Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
>> Wagner Group’s bloody year in Ukraine: From murder squad to cannon fodder
Ukrainian commanders have warned in recent days that the situation on the ground is getting much harder as Russia steps ups its attempts to encircle Bakhmut to claim its first major prize for more than half a year after some of the bloodiest fighting of the war.
"The Ukrainian army is throwing extra reserves into Artyomovsk and trying to hold the town with all their strength," Prigozhin said in a short audio message released by his press service, referring to Bakhmut by its Soviet-era name. "Tens of thousands of Ukrainian army fighters are putting up furious resistance. The bloodiness of the battles is growing by the day," he added.
11:15am: Ukraine says 'survived most difficult winter in our history'
Ukraine has "survived" a months-long onslaught of Russian strikes on critical infrastructure throughout winter, Ukraine's foreign minister said as he marked the first day of spring in Kyiv.
Since October Russia has been pummelling key energy facilities in Ukraine with missiles and drones, disrupting water, heating and electricity supplies to millions of people.
"On March 1, 2023, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin suffered his fifth major defeat since his full-scale invasion – Ukraine defeated his winter terror," Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a statement.
"We survived the most difficult winter in our history. It was cold and dark, but we were unbreakable."
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
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)
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