"It seems that Wagner's offensive has lost air," says Lieutenant Colonel Joakim Paasikivi. In a post on Telegram on Friday, Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister, Hanna Maljar, wrote that Ukraine this week advanced about two kilometers around Bachmut.
Russia's Defense Ministry initially stated that reports of Ukrainian successes at Bachmut "do not correspond to reality," but in an updated statement on Friday,. the Defense Ministry claimed that Russian troops north of Bachmut have changed positions for strategic reasons.