TOP HEADLINES

• Russian forces have likely taken control of the center of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, threatening a key supply route for Ukrainian forces, according to British intelligence. READ MORE BELOW

• The news comes days after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would withdraw if at risk of encirclement. A Ukrainian spokesperson said the situation was difficult in the fiercely contested strategic town, but added that Russian troops were not having "strategic success". 

• Fighting continued to rage further south of Bakhmut around Avdiivka, a town near the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk.

• Officials in Russian-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine said a total of seven civilians were killed in two separate Ukrainian artillery strikes.

• The Kremlin said it was following the "important talks" between China's President Xi Jinping, Emmanuel Macron, and EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.

• An adviser to Russian President Putin said there was little chance of peace talks starting this year, while a top Ukrainian official ruled out negotiations until it withdraws all troops, briefing against a colleague who suggested the idea of negotiations to resolve the Russian occupation of the Crimean peninsula.

• An EU plan to send 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine has been delayed as member states argue over its funding.

• Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said during a news conference with his Turkish counterpart in Ankara that Moscow could work outside the Black Sea grain deal if Western countries maintained what he called "obstacles."

IN DETAIL 

British intelligence has reported that Russian forces have very likely seized the center of Bakhmut and are threatening a major supply route for Ukrainian forces to the west. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had said earlier this week his troops would retreat from the town, the main focus of Russia's assault on Ukraine for months, if they came under risk of encirclement.

"Russia has made further gains and has now highly likely advanced into the town center, and has seized the west bank of the Bakhmutka River. Ukraine's key 0506 supply route to the west of the town is likely severely threatened," the UK report said.

In contrast, Eastern Military Command spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi said Ukraine still controlled the situation in Bakhmut and understood Russian intentions.

"The situation is difficult, the enemy is concentrating maximum efforts to capture Bakhmut. However it is suffering serious losses and not reaching strategic success," Cherevatyi said by telephone.

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The battle for Bakhmut, one of the last urban centers in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk province yet to fall to Russian forces, has experienced some of the bloodiest fighting in the conflict. Donetsk is one of four provinces in eastern and southern Ukraine that Russia has legally moved to integrate into its own territory, despite vast swathes of the regions still being controlled by Kyiv's troops. 

Ukraine has said it is fighting on in Bakhmut to wear down Russian forces before a coming counter-offensive bolstered by advanced Western-supplied weapons. A regional transport and logistics hub, Bakhmut would give Russia a platform from which to advance on two bigger cities in Donetsk, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

Zelenskyy told CNN last month that he feared Russian forces would have "an open road" to the two cities if they took the town, adding that his order to hold it was a tactical decision.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, speaking alongside his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Ankara, said he was concerned about the potential intensification of the conflict in the spring.

Lavrov, in turn, reiterated that Russia's security concerns had been ignored by the West and said its interests must be taken into account. Asked if he would meet with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at UN headquarters, Lavrov stressed Moscow would never refuse serious proposals for dialogue.

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