TOP HEADLINES

· Ukrainian troops faced off against Russian forces in the strategic Donetsk site of Bakhmut, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying Russian forces had suffered more than 1,100 dead in the past few days of fighting. Russia's defense ministry said on Sunday its forces had killed more than 220 Ukrainian fighters in 24 hours. READ MORE BELOW

· The commander of Ukrainian ground forces said the situation was difficult in the mining town, despite Kyiv holding its lines. The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group, which is leading the attack on Bakhmut, said the situation was "tough, very tough... But we are advancing and we will be advancing." READ MORE BELOW

· The Wagner chief added his army would begin to reboot once Bakhmut was captured. "In particular, we will start recruiting new people from the regions," Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a clip posted on Telegram channels.

· One of Putin's top allies said allegations that the Nord Stream pipelines were blown up by a pro-Ukrainian group was an attempt by "pro-government Anglo-Saxon media" to cover up for the real culprits. He added he still did not know for certain who was behind the attacks. 

· Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said he believes that a deal allowing grain to be exported via the Black Sea will be extended from its current March 18 deadline, despite Russia's foreign ministry said on it had not yet taken part in the latest negotiations.

· Ukraine's attacks against a branch of the Orthodox church linked to Russia are part of a drive to achieve "spiritual independence," Zelenskyy said as Kyiv accuses the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of undermining national unity and collaborating with Moscow.

· The Kremlin said it was not ruling out President Putin attending a summit of leaders of the Group of 20 developed and emerging economies in India.

· Georgia's prime minister, Irakli Garibashvili, has called on President Zelenskyy to not interfere in the political situation in Georgia, after a wave of protests hit the country last week.

IN DETAIL

Battle for Bakhmut "tough"

Fierce fighting continued in Bakhmut in its eastern Donetsk region on Monday, with both sides reporting mounting enemy casualties as they battled across a small river that runs through the beseiged town.

The commander of Ukrainian ground forces said the situation was difficult but stressed his forces were repelling Russian attempts to take control of the strategic site.

"All enemy attempts to capture the town are being repelled by artillery, tanks, and other firepower," Colonel general Oleksandr Syrskyi was quoted as saying on the Ukraine's Media Military Centre Telegram messaging platform.

Ukrainian forces control the west of Bakhmut, while Russia's Wagner mercenary group dominates most of the eastern part, British intelligence said in a weekend update.

Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Sunday the situation was "tough, very tough."

"The closer we are to the centre of the city, the harder the fighting ... The Ukrainians throw in endless reserves. But we are advancing and we will be advancing," Prigozhin said.

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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed late on Sunday his forces had killed more than 1,100 Russian soldiers in the past few days in the battle for Bakhmut.

He added that Russian forces had sustained 1,500 "sanitary losses," fighters wounded badly enough to keep them out of action.

Russia's defense ministry said earlier in the day that its forces had killed more than 220 Ukrainian service members over the past 24 hours in the Donetsk region.

Neither side gave details of their own casualties.

Russia sees capturing Bakhmut as a step towards seizing all of Ukraine's Donbas industrial region, made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Ukraine has decided to stay and fight on in the mining town in a bid to snare Russia's best units ahead of Kyiv's expected spring offensive when the weather improves and Western weapons arrive, including heavy Leopard and Challenger tanks.

A senior European Union official said the bloc could soon top up a fund for purchasing weapons for Ukraine by 3.5 billion euros ($3.7 billion).

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