Ukraine-Russia war – latest: Civilians flee Bakhmut as forces under pressure to pull out

Pressure from Russian forces mounted Saturday on Ukrainians hunkered down in Bakhmut, as residents attempted to flee with help from troops who Western analysts say may be preparing to withdraw from the key eastern stronghold.

A woman was killed and two men were badly wounded by shelling while trying to cross a makeshift bridge out of the city in Donetsk province, according to Ukrainian troops who were assisting them.

A Ukrainian army representative who asked not to be named for operational reasons told The Associated Press that it was now too dangerous for civilians to leave Bakhmut by vehicle and that people had to flee on foot instead.

Kim Sengupta witnesses a Ukrainian commander confront the neighbours he suspects betrayed his family in their village.

“My brother Andryi was kidnapped, tortured and murdered here, did you play a part in this? Do you know what they did with the body, where they buried him?” Major Aleksandr Osadchy is questioning two neighbours in the shattered community of Kamianka, eastern Ukraine.

Quietly, trying hard to stay calm, he tells of how his 85-year-old mother, Maria, died of starvation: ill, frightened and alone after his brother – who had been looking after her – was taken away by Russian troops. Her emaciated body, curled up in an effort to stay warm, was found six months later.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Sunday that Ankara is working hard to extend a U.N.-backed initiative that has enabled Ukraine to export grain from ports blockaded by Russia following its invasion.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last July allowed grain to be exported from three Ukrainian ports. The agreement was extended in November and will expire on March 18 unless an extension is agreed.

“We are working hard for the smooth implementation and further extension of the Black Sea grain deal,” Cavusoglu said in a speech at the United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries being held in Doha, Qatar.

Cavusoglu also said he discussed the extension efforts with U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

On Wednesday, Russia said it would only agree to extend the Black Sea grain deal if the interests of its own agricultural producers are taken into account.

Top commanders of what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine have briefed Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on the current situation and action plans, his ministry said on Sunday.

Shoigu paid a rare visit to Russia‘s forces deployed in Ukraine, awarding medals to military personnel and meeting senior commanders during the trip, according to a statement and videos issued by the Defence Ministry on Saturday.

The minister held a meeting with commanders of the operation, the ministry said in a statement in its Telegram social media app on Sunday. It did not specify if the meeting took place during the trip.

“Sergei Shoigu paid special attention to the set-up of all the necessary conditions for the safe deployment of personnel in the field, the organization of comprehensive support for the troops, especially the work of medical and rear units.”

Russia‘s top military chiefs have visited the front lines in Ukraine only occasionally since Moscow sent tens of thousands of Russian troops into the neighbouring country just over a year ago.

Estonians go to the polls today as one of Europe’s most staunchly pro-Kyiv governments faces a challenge from a far-right party seeking to capitalise on anger at rising living costs and which would shut out further Ukrainian refugees.

If, as opinion polls predict, prime minister Kaja Kallas’ liberal Reform party wins the election and successfully crafts a coalition it would cement the Baltic nation’s pro-European direction. Estonia would also stay on course to adopt more green energy and continue to accept refugees from Ukraine.

The polls close at 8pm local time, with most electoral districts expected to report their tallies by midnight.

Reform won an election in 2019 but was then kept from power as three smaller parties formed a government. That coalition collapsed in 2021, allowing Kallas to create a coalition and take charge.

The far-right Ekre party may end up in second place, according to opinion polls, as their promises to slash energy bills by opposing the transition to green energy are proving popular in some parts of the country, as is the pledge to not admit further Ukrainian refugees.

“I hope to stay prime minister, but it’s up to the voters to decide”, Ms Kallas said, adding voters must choose between what she called “two totally different ways for Estonia”.

“We are supporting the open, friendly, European-minded, smart country, I would say, and Ekre is looking more into itself, that we should stick to our own interest, not to help Ukraine,” she said.

Russia’s long-standing foreign minister Sergei Lavrov provoked open laughter from the audience at an international conference in India after he falsely claimed that his home country was a victim of Ukrainian aggression.

Mr Lavrov was responding to a question from the audience at the Raisina Dialogue 2023 series in New Delhi when the 72-year-old made the statement.

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Clutching flowers and wiping away tears, relatives, neighbours and friends of eight men executed by Russian forces during the occupation of the Ukrainian town of Bucha gathered on Saturday to mark the first anniversary of the deaths.

The eight had set up a roadblock in an attempt to prevent Russian troops from advancing as they swept toward Kyiv, Ukrane’s capital, at the start of their invasion. But the men were captured, Ukrainian authorities say, and executed.

Their bodies lay outside a building on Yablunska Street for a month, with relatives only able to collect them in April after Russian troops pulled out of Bucha.

The death toll from a Russian missile strike that hit an apartment block in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia rose to 11 on Saturday after a woman’s body was found in the debris, the state emergency service said.

One child was among those killed in Thursday’s early-morning strike on the five-storey residential building, the service said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

Officials from the regional administration said in another post that a Russian S-300 missile had hit the building.

In a post on Telegram shortly after the strike, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky promised to hold Russia accountable.

The Biden administration is close to tightening rules on some overseas investments by US companies in an effort to limit China’s ability to acquire technologies that could improve its military prowess, according to a US official familiar with the deliberations.

The soon-to-be-issued executive order from president Joe Biden will limit American investment in advanced technologies that have national security applications — such as next-generation military capabilities that could help China improve the speed and accuracy of military decision making, according to the official, who was not authorized to comment and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov says his country will “no longer rely” on the West for energy trade.

He made the remark during the foreign ministers’ G20 meeting in New Delhi on Friday, 3 March.

Mr Lavrov was asked how the war in Ukraine has impacted the country’s energy strategy at the Raisina Dialogue, a multilateral conference,

“We would not anymore rely on any partners in the west. We would not allow them to blow the pipelines again,” he said.