Ukraine Russia war – latest news: Wagner chief warns war frontline ‘will collapse’ amid weapons shortage

Russian mercenary group Wagner’s chief has warned that his forces capturing the entire mining town of Bakhmut were being deprived of arms and ammunition, adding that if they were forced to retreat, the entire front gained in the war so far would collapse.

“If Wagner retreats from Bakhmut now, the whole front will collapse,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said over the weekend, speaking from a bunker-like space.

“The situation will not be sweet for all military formations protecting Russian interests,” he warned.

He added that his soldiers are worried that Moscow wanted to set them up as possible scapegoats if Russia lost the war.

“If we retreat, then we will go down in history forever as people who have taken the main step towards losing the war,” the mercenary group’s boss said in a nearly four-minute video.

“This is exactly the problem with ammunition hunger.”

Volodymyr Zelensky has said that his administration is working on punishing all Russian officials and forces for sustaining the war against Ukraine after he held a conference with lawyers from Kyiv, Europe and other nations.

“All Russian murderers, every organizer of this aggression, everyone who in any way sustains the war against our country and terror against our people must be punished. And this is not just a dream of justice. This is work that is already underway,” he said in his nightly address.

The war-time president added that his administration is already reaching these agreements.

“These are agreements that we are already reaching. These are institutions that are already working and will work even harder to restore justice, to punish those responsible for aggression,” he said.

Ukraine has vowed to defend its “fortress” Bakhmut as intense fighting against Russian soldiers continued in the streets this weekend.

But a Russian military source has claimed that the battle is “close to its end”.

Ukrainian military officials said attempts were continuing by Vladimir Putin’s troops to encircle the city.

Two civilians were killed over the past day in Bakhmut, governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine was enduring a “painful and difficult” battle in the eastern Donbas region, which includes Bakhmut.

The death toll of an attack on a high rise building on Thursday has now risen to 13 as another person has died.

A rocket hit a five-floor residential block in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine on Thursday.

Anatoliy Kurtiev, secretary of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Council, said on Sunday: “Unfortunately, the number of people who died as a result of the rocket attack on March 2 has already increased to 13. Among them is a very small child.”

Ukrainian authorities said a pregnant woman was among those rescued from the building on Thursday.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz has said there would be “consequences” if China decides to aid Russia with weapons for Moscow’s war in Ukraine, but added that he is fairly optimistic that Beijing will refrain from doing so.

“I think it would have consequences, but we are now in a stage where we are making it clear that this should not happen, and I’m 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,” the German chancellor said on being asked by CNN if he could imagine sanctioning China if it did aid Russia.

In the last few weeks, US officials have warned recently that China could step off the sidelines and start providing arms and ammunition to Moscow.

Mr. Scholz has already urged Beijing to refrain from sending weapons and instead use its influence to pressure Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine.

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Ukraine has vowed to defend its “fortress” Bakhmut as intense fighting against Russian soldiers continued in the streets this weekend.

Fighting intensified in the fiercely contested city yesterday with a Russian military source claiming the battle was “close to its end”.

Ukrainian military officials said attempts were continuing by Vladimir Putin’s troops to encircle the city.

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Russia has said it is not happy with some aspects of the Black Sea grain deal as Turkey announced it is “working hard” to extend the initiative.

“If this agreement is equal, then we have always fulfilled our part and are going to fulfill it in all the agreements,” Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.

Ms Zakharova added that Russia would be opposing “goading and mechanisms”.

Formed between Turkey and the UN last year, the Black Sea Grain Initiative allowed there to be exports of grain from three ports in Ukraine.

Russian troops are likely using shovels for “hand-to-hand” combat in Ukraine because of an ammunition shortage, UK intelligence has said.

In its update on the war on Sunday, the UK’s Ministry of Defense said Vladimir Putin’s troops were ordered to attack a Ukrainian position armed only with “firearms and shovels” late last month.

It said the shovel was an MPL-50 – a tool that was designed in 1869 and has not changed much since. The MoD said it “highlights the brutal and low-tech fighting” that has characterized much of the war.

A woman and two children were killed in Russian mortar shelling of a village in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office said on Sunday.

“Mortar shelling of Poniativka village in Kherson region. A private house was hit,” Andriy Yermak wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

“Russian terrorists continue to kill civilians,” he said, providing no additional details of the attack.

Kherson was occupied by Russian troops from the early days of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine until its recapture by Kyiv’s forces in November.

Since its liberation, the city has regularly been shelled from Russian positions across the Dnipro river.

British pilots are set to conduct joint air policing missions in Estonia alongside the German air force for the first time.

It comes as the UK prepares to take over from Germany to lead the Nato mission in Estonia, which borders Russia.

Royal Air Force and German Air Force Typhoon jets will take part in the first of their kind “integrated” missions, as the Defense Secretary praised the demonstration of Nato “unity”.

The Ministry of Defense said that around 300 RAF personnel will soon arrive in Estonia, with the UK set to lead the Nato air policing mission for four months from April.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has reignited concerns in border states, including Estonia, about Vladmir Putin’s ambitions and his next steps.