Ukrainian troops, on the defensive for four months, will launch a long-awaited counter assault "very soon" now that Russia's huge winter offensive is losing steam without Moscow taking Bakhmut, Ukraine's top ground forces commander says.
The remarks were the strongest indication yet from Kyiv that it is close to shifting tactics, having absorbed Russia's onslaught through a brutal winter.
Russia's Wagner mercenaries "are losing considerable strength and are running out of steam", Kyiv's ground forces commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a social media post.
"Very soon, we will take advantage of this opportunity, as we did in the past near Kyiv, Kharkiv, Balakliya and Kupiansk," he said, listing Ukrainian counteroffensives last year that recaptured swathes of land.
There was no immediate response from Moscow to the latest suggestions its forces in Bakhmut were losing momentum, but Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has issued pessimistic statements in recent days warning of a Ukrainian counter assault.
On Monday, he published a letter to Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, saying Ukraine aimed to cut off Wagner's forces from Russia's regular troops.
Journalists near the front line north of Bakhmut saw signs consistent with the claim that the Russian offensive in the area could be flagging.
At a Ukrainian-held village west of Soledar, on Bakhmut's northern outskirts, the intensity of the Russian bombardment had noticeably eased from just two days earlier.
"It was really hot here a week ago, but in the last three days it has been more quiet," said a Ukrainian soldier who used the call sign "Kamin", or "Stone".
"We can see this in the enemy's air strikes. If before there were five to six air raids in a day, today we had only one helicopter attack and it was too far and so ineffective," said the soldier, a member of an anti-aircraft unit in the 10th Mountain Assault Brigade.
Ukraine had looked likely to pull out of Bakhmut weeks ago but decided to fight on, a move some Western military experts described as a major risk given the need to preserve forces for a counterattack later this year.
But Ukrainian commanders said the battle was weakening Russia's forces more than their own.
Slovakia hands over the first of its MiG jets
A slowdown in Russia's assault on Bakhmut could be in part due to Moscow diverting its troops and resources to other areas.
Britain said on Thursday that Russian troops had been making gains further north this month, partially regaining control over the approaches to the town of Kreminna, a Ukrainian target.
Intense battles were also underway further south.
Moscow has meanwhile sent hundreds of thousands of freshly called-up reservists and convicts recruited by Wagner from prisons into battle.
But any shift in momentum in Bakhmut, if confirmed, would be remarkable given the city's symbolic importance as the focus of Russia's offensive, and the scale of the losses on both sides there in Europe's bloodiest infantry battle since World War II.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Europe to quickly provide more weapons to his forces and impose additional sanctions on Russia, warning the war could otherwise drag on for years.
"If Europe waits, the evil may have time to regroup and prepare for years of war. It is in your power to prevent this," a clearly frustrated Mr Zelenskyy said in a video address to European Union leaders, delivered from a train.
In particular, he reiterated demands for long-range missiles, more ammunition and more modern aircraft, and said the EU needed to speed up the process to grant Ukraine membership.
On Thursday, Slovakia handed over the first four MiG-29 jets it had pledged to donate to Ukraine, with the rest of the planes to be delivered in the coming weeks, the Slovak Defence Ministry said.
Slovakia, a NATO member on the military alliance's eastern flank, last week joined Poland in announcing the delivery of jets to Ukraine.
In total, Slovakia said it would donate 13 of the Soviet-made fighter jets, which Kyiv believes are crucial to repel Russia's year-long invasion.
Hungary says it would not arrest Putin using ICC warrant
Last week, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant Russian President Vladimir Putin on war crimes charges, accusing him of illegally deporting Ukrainian children.
Moscow has rejected the allegations and said it has taken in children to protect them.
Gergely Gulyas, the chief of staff for Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, said Mr Putin would not be arrested if he entered the country.
"We can refer to the Hungarian law, and based on that, we cannot arrest the Russian president … as the ICC's statute has not been promulgated in Hungary," Mr Gulyas said.
"These decisions are not the most fortunate as they take things towards further escalation and not towards peace," Mr Gulyas said of the arrest warrant, adding: "This is my personal subjective opinion."
Hungary has maintained economic and diplomatic ties with Russia throughout the Ukraine war.
European Union leaders endorsed a plan on Thursday for sending Ukraine 1 million rounds of artillery ammunition within the next 12 months to help the country counter Russia's invasion forces.
EU foreign and defence ministers approved the plan for a fast-track purchasing procedure earlier this week, and the leaders of the bloc's 27 member nations gave it their political blessing at a summit in Brussels.
Hungary said it would not take part in getting ammunition to Ukraine, citing its commitment to peace, but said it would not prevent other members from doing so by blocking the deal.
Last month, Mr Orbán said the EU was partly to blame for prolonging Russia's war in Ukraine by sanctioning Russia and supplying Ukraine with money and weapons, rather than seeking to negotiate peace with Moscow.
ABC/wires
