• Germany have announced 2.7 billion euro ($3.0 billion) of military aid to Ukraine, its biggest such package yet since the start of the conflict, and pledged further support for Kyiv for as long as necessary.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Rome on Saturday for talks with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Pope Francis, who in late April said the Vatican is involved in a peace mission to end the conflict with Russia. 

• Moscow acknowledged its forces had fallen back north of Ukraine's battlefield city of Bakhmut after a new offensive, in a retreat the head of Russia's Wagner private army called a rout. READ MORE BELOW.

• A draft communique from a meeting of Group of Seven finance chiefs reiterated the group's condemnation of Russia's "illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war of aggression" against Ukraine, and said it will continue to strengthen coordination in monitoring cross-border transactions between Russia and other countries.

• South African officials hit back at U.S. accusations that a sanctioned Russian ship had picked up weapons from a naval base near Cape Town late last year, a move investors feared could lead Washington to impose sanctions.

• UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi plans to present an agreement with Russia and Ukraine on protecting the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the UN Security Council this month, indicating a deal is close, four diplomats told Reuters.

• Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are considering speeding up a plan to disconnect the Baltic region's electricity supply from Russia's grid.

• Police in the Russian city of St. Petersburg said they have created an anti-drone unit to detect unmanned aerial vehicles following a purported drone attack on the Kremlin this month.

• Pro-conflict Russian nationalists led by Igor Girkin said a new group they had set up was entering politics to "save Russia," which they warned was in danger of turmoil due to military setbacks in the Ukraine conflict.

IN DETAIL

Moscow admits Bakhmut setback

Moscow has acknowledged its forces had fallen back north of Ukraine's battlefield city of Bakhmut after a new Ukrainian offensive.

The setback for Russia, which follows similar reports of Ukrainian advances south of the city, suggests a coordinated push by Kyiv to encircle Russian forces in Bakhmut, Moscow's main objective for months during the conflict's bloodiest fighting.

"In three days of counter-offensive activity, the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Bakhmut sector have liberated 17.3 sq. km (6.6 sq. miles) of territory," Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesman for the "east" group of Ukrainian forces, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Both sides are now reporting the biggest Ukrainian gains in six months, although Ukraine has given few details and played down suggestions a huge, long-planned counteroffensive had officially begun.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Ukraine had launched an assault north of Bakhmut with more than 1,000 troops and up to 40 tanks, a scale that if confirmed would amount to the biggest Ukrainian offensive since November.

The Russians had repelled 26 attacks but troops in one area had fallen back to regroup in more favorable positions near the Berkhivka reservoir northwest of Bakhmut, Konashenkov said.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner forces that have led the campaign in the city, said in an audio message: "What Konashenkov described, unfortunately, is called 'a rout' and not a regrouping."

In a separate video message, Prigozhin said the Ukrainians had seized high ground overlooking Bakhmut and opened the main highway leading into the city from the West.

"The loss of the Berkhivka reservoir - the loss of this territory they gave up - that's five sq km, just today," Prigozhin said.

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