Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky on Sunday paid tribute to his soldiers fighting in a "painful and difficult" battle in the eastern Donbas region, which includes the city of Bakhmut that Russia has been trying to capture for months. Ukrainian troops have vowed to defend "fortress Bakhmut". Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).
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2:20am:Â Russia's Wagner chief warns of frontline collapse if forced to retreat from Bakhmut
The founder of Russia's Wagner mercenary force said his troops now tightening their grip on the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut were being deprived of ammunition andif they were forced to retreat the entire front would collapse.
"If Wagner retreats from Bakhmut now, the whole front will collapse," Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video published over the weekend. "The situation will not be sweet for all military formations protecting Russian interests."
Prigozhin on Friday said that his units had "practically surrounded Bakhmut," where fighting has intensified in the past week with Russian forces attacking from nearly all sides.
But on Sunday he complained that most of the ammunition that his forces were promised by Moscow in February had not yet been shipped.
1:28am:Â Scholz warns of 'consequences' if China sends arms to Russia
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says there would be âconsequencesâ if China sent weapons to Russia for Moscow's war in Ukraine, but he's fairly optimistic that Beijing will refrain from doing so.
Scholz's comments came in an interview with CNN that aired Sunday, two days after he met US President Joe Biden in Washington.
Asked by CNN if he could imagine sanctioning China if it did aid Russia, Scholz replied: âI think it would have consequences, but we are now in a stage where we are making clear that this should not happen, and Iâm relatively optimistic that we will be successful with our request in this case, but we will have to look at (it) and we have to be very, very cautious.â
10:25pm: Russia marks Stalin's death anniversary as his shadow looms over Ukraine offensive
More than a thousand people gathered on Moscow's Red Square on Sunday for the 70th anniversary of the death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, whose divisive legacy looms over the Ukraine conflict.
Kyiv says the Russian invasion is driven by Stalin-era imperialistic tendencies, while the heightened repression of critics of the war in Russia is reminiscent of Soviet methods.
People waving communist flags or holding portraits of the late dictator waited in a long line to lay flowers on his grave near the Kremlin wall.Â
Stalin oversaw a personality cult around himself and presided over purges that saw millions executed or sent to the gulag system, a vast network of prison camps.Â
But in Russia, many praise him for singlehandedly defeating Hitler in 1945 â a version heavily contested by historians â and restoring Russia's grandeur.
Drawing parallels with that history is part of the messaging put forward by the Kremlin to support the current Ukraine offensive. .
8:05pm: Battle for Donbas 'painful and difficult', says Zelensky
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the battle for Donbas, which includes the war-torn city of Bakhmut, has been "painful and difficult".
"I would like to pay special tribute to the bravery, strength and resilience of the soldiers fighting in the Donbas," Zelensky said in his daily address, adding "this is one of the hardest battles. Painful and difficult."
Ukrainian troops have vowed to defend "fortress Bakhmut" but they have faced tremendous pressure from the Russians, particularly with recruits from the Wagner Group.
The Donbas is made up of Donetsk and Lugansk, which Russia claims to have annexed despite never fully having controlled it.
  Ukraine this week reported an increasingly difficult situation around Bakhmut that Russia is determined to seize as part of its wider aim of capturing the entire Donbas.Â
  The city -- whose symbolic importance outstripped its military significance as the battle dragged on -- has been largely reduced to rubble.Â
  Zelensky on Sunday thanked his troops, who "repelled assaults, destroyed the occupier, undermined enemy positions and logistics, and protected our borders and cities."
5:15pm: Estonians vote in election test for pro-Kyiv government
Estonians have been voting Sunday in a general election that pits one of Europe's most staunchly pro-Kyiv governments against a far-right party seeking to capitalise on anger over rising living costs, and which would stop admitting new Ukrainian refugees.
If, as opinion polls predict, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas' liberal Reform party wins the election and successfully crafts a coalition, it would cement the Baltic nation's pro-European direction. Estonia would also stay on course to adopt more green energy and continue to accept refugees from Ukraine.
The polls close at 8pm local time (1800 GMT), with most electoral districts expected to report their tallies by midnight.
2:46pm: Russian army says it hit Azov Regiment command centre in Ukraine
The Russian army hit a command centre of the Ukrainian Azov Regiment in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, according to the Russian defence ministry.
The ministry did not provide details of the attack in its daily update on what Moscow terms the "special military operation" in Ukraine. The report could not be independently verified.
The Azov Regiment, which had far-right and ultra-nationalist origins and is now a unit of Ukraine's national guard, garnered international attention for its resistance to the Russian siege of Mariupol's vast steelworks last year.
12:25am: 'Lot of speculation over whether Ukrainian troops are preparing to withdraw' from Bakhmut
After seven months of battles on the outskirts of Bakhmut, Ukraine has denied rumours its forces are withdrawing from the eastern city, saying instead it is enforcing the area with elite units. A pro-Russian capture of the city would be a major advance in the fight for the Donbas region. FRANCE 24âs Gulliver Cragg reports.Â
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11:50am: Kyiv says Russia pursuing 'attempts to encircle' Bakhmut, vows to defend âfortress Bakhmut'
Kyiv said Sunday it was holding off attacks from Russian troops still attempting to surround Bakhmut, a now-destroyed eastern Ukrainian city that Moscow has been trying to capture for months. Ukraine has vowed to defend "fortress Bakhmut" but it has faced Russian troops determined to take the city that has turned into a political prize as the battle drags on.
The Ukrainian general staff said "more than 130 enemy attacks" had been repelled over the past day including in Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut and Avdiivka.
"The enemy continues its attempts to encircle the town of Bakhmut," it said on Sunday morning. Sergiy Cherevaty, a spokesman for Ukrainian forces, said on Saturday the situation was "difficult but under control" in the city he described as a "priority target for the enemy".
10:28am: Turkey working to renew Black Sea grain deal, FM says
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Sunday that Ankara is working hard to extend a U.N.-backed initiative that has enabled Ukraine to export grain from ports blockaded by Russia following its invasion.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last July allowed grain to be exported from three Ukrainian ports. The agreement was extended in November and will expire on March 18 unless an extension is agreed.
"We are working hard for the smooth implementation and further extension of the Black Sea grain deal," Cavusoglu said in a speech at the United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries being held in Doha, Qatar.
2:51am: Ukrainian pilots in Arizona to fly military simulators, US official says
In a first, two Ukrainian pilots are in Arizona to fly flight simulators and be evaluated by the US military, an American defence official said Saturday, as Washington remains mute on whether it will send fighter jets or sophisticated remotely piloted drones to Kyiv.
The US and allies have been flooding Ukraine with weapons from Javelin missiles to HIMARS rocket launchers, but sophisticated jets and the largest armed drones have not been pledged to Ukraine by Western allies.
"This event allows us to better help Ukrainian pilots become more effective pilots and better advise them on how to develop their own capabilities," the defence official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Arizona "familiarisation event" will facilitate dialogue between Ukrainian and US personnel and provide an opportunity to observe how the US Air Force operates, the defence official said.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)
