Finland, which shares a 1,300-km (810-mile) border with Russia, will later on Tuesday join NATO, just over a year after Russia invaded Ukraine, partly in response to what Russia said the alliance’s aggressive expansion eastward.
The battle for the mining city and logistics hub of Bakhmut has been one of the bloodiest of the conflict with heavy casualties on both sides and the city largely destroyed.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary force spearheading the siege, said on Sunday his troops had raised a Russian flag on the city-centre administrative building even though Ukrainian soldiers still held some western positions.
But Ukraine’s military poured scorn on that claim and said fighting was raging around the city council building, as well as in other nearby towns.
“Bakhmut is Ukrainian and they have not captured anything and are very far from doing that,” Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the eastern military command, told Reuters.
“They…
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