Ukraine denies Wagner claim that city has fallen and says fighting ongoing in some parts

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has arrived in Hiroshima, Japan, to attend the G7 leaders’ summit in the city.

Reuters reports that live footage broadcast by multiple media outlets showed Zelenskiy disembark from a French government aircraft.

With Russia likely maintaining relatively few uncommitted combat units in Ukraine, the redeployment represents a notable commitment by the Russian command.

Russia’s leadership likely continue to see capturing Bakhmut as the key immediate war aim which would allow them to claim some degree of success in the conflict.

Ukraine president meets British prime minister in UK; Iran has sent more than 400 attack drones to Russia since August, US says. This live blog is closed

• What we know on day 446 of Russia’s invasion

Ukraine’s president has announced that he will arrive in London on Monday for talks with UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak. In a tweet, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said:

Today – London. The UK is a leader when it comes to expanding our capabilities on the ground and in the air. This cooperation will continue today. I will meet my friend Rishi. We will conduct substantive negotiations face-to-face and in delegations.

Ukrainian president will hold talks with French president over dinner following rip to Berlin

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• What we know on day 445 of the invasion

The UK Ministry of Defence has posted an update on the situation in Ukraine.

It states that while Russian forces retain the same organisational structure to when it invaded Ukraine last February, it is, in fact, a very different military force.

Russian reports suggest two warplanes and two helicopters downed on Saturday, though unclear if due to friendly fire or Ukrainian attacks

• Zelenskiy meets pope as Ukraine retakes ground in Bakhmut
• What we know on day 444 of the invasion

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has arrived at Rome’s Ciampino airport on Saturday, a political source told Reuters.

Confirming the visit on Twitter, the Ukrainian president said it was important for “approaching victory of Ukraine”.

Yevgeny Prigozhin had criticised the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, and the chief of the general staff, Valery Gerasimov

• What we know on day 438 of the invasion

When Vladimir Putin takes to the stage on Tuesday to commemorate the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany, his speech on Red Square will have been preceded by a turbulent week in which drones attacked the Kremlin and one of his top war leaders threatened mutiny.

The dramatic footage early last Wednesday of two drones flying over the walls of the Kremlin, its historical seat of power, exposed vulnerabilities in the heart of the Russian capital, putting Moscow on edge.

Zakhar Prilepin wounded in explosion in the region of Nizhny Novgorod, Russian state news agency says. This blog is now closed

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A prominent Russian nationalist writer, Zakhar Prilepin, was wounded in a car bombing in the region of Nizhny Novgorod on Saturday, the Russian state news agency Tass said, in an attack that Russia immediately blamed on Ukraine and the West.

Tass quoted a source in the emergency services as saying the writer’s car was blown up. “He survived, but was wounded and is conscious,” the source was quoted as saying.

The fact has come true: Washington and Nato fed another international terrorist cell – the Kyiv regime.

Moscow-installed governor in Sevastopol says blaze, attributed to Ukrainian drone strike, now under control

• At a glance: what we know on day 430 of the invasion

Ukraine’s president said on Friday that he had asked his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to help bring back Ukrainian children deported by Russia.

In his evening address, AFP reports that Volodymyr Zelenskiy as saying:

We need to involve everyone ... to put pressure on the Russian aggressor and the terrorists who kidnapped so many of our children.

The UN, many others want to do something, but so far the results have been poor. So I have appealed to the leader of China.

Now, with regard to the need in general for shells at the front, what we want. Today we are coming to the point where Wagner is ending.

Wagner, in a short period of time, will cease to exist. We will become history, nothing to worry about, things like this happen.

Constant attacks from Russian troops have made it impossible for Kherson residents to return to their normal lives

• What we know on day 424 of the invasion

Ukraine’s military have set up positions on the eastern side of Dnipro river near Kherson city. Infiltrating the area could be a first step towards trying to dislodge Russians from positions they are using to shell and shoot at Kherson.

France and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania expressed dismay that China’s ambassador in Paris questioned whether Crimea is part of Ukraine. France stated its “full solidarity” on Sunday, with all the allied countries affected, which it said had acquired their independence “after decades of oppression”.

Russia is advising citizens to avoid travel to Canada. Russia cited what it calls numerous cases of discrimination against its citizens, including physical violence, its foreign ministry has said.

Russia appeals for “real men” in new military recruitment drive. Russia’s defence ministry has launched a major drive for volunteer recruits, pitching to their masculine pride and appealing for “real men” amid a limited pool of fighting-age men in Russia, the UK Ministry of Defence says.

Evacuations in Russian city of Belgorod after bomb scare. More than 3,000 people in the Russian city of Belgorod were returning to their homes on Saturday after being evacuated while an explosive was disposed of, the local governor said.

At least five Russian missiles hit the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and surrounding districts late on Saturday night, damaging civilian buildings, local officials said. One missile hit a house in the village of Kotliary, just to the south of Kharkiv, while another caused a fire in the city itself, said the regional governor, Oleh Sinegubov.

Russia’s defence ministry claimed it had captured another three districts in the western part of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. Troops who have continued into the heavily contested city are thought to be part of the Wagner group of mercenaries.

Russia confirmed it would expel 20 German diplomats in retaliation for its own diplomats being sent home from Berlin, the Tass news agency said, citing Russia’s foreign ministry.

Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has again refused to take sides in the war in Ukraine, calling for a “negotiated political solution” between Kyiv and Moscow. “We urgently need a group of countries to sit round a table with both Ukraine and Russia,” he said after a meeting with the Portuguese president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in Lisbon.

The former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday that if the G7 moved to ban exports to Russia, Moscow would respond by terminating the Black Sea Grain deal that enables vital exports of grain from Ukraine, Reuters reports.