Russian president flew in by helicopter and then drove a car in several districts of the city, site of one of the war’s bloodiest battles

• What we know on day 389 of the Russia-Ukraine war

The Financial Times’ Moscow bureau chief Max Seddon has tweeted that, according to the Kremlin, Putin visited the restored Mariupol philharmonic

Russian state media is reporting that Vladimir Putin has today visited a command post in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don. Russian state-owned news agency TASS said Putin held a meeting at a military command and control post in the Russian city.

Russia seized Crimea in 2014, eight years before launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This blog is now closed

Ukraine has released details of overnight drone attacks by Russia.

Some hit the relatively peaceful region of Lviv in the west of Ukraine. Dnipro was also targeted, as was Kyiv, where air defences shot down all attacking drones.

UK Ministry of Defence says capture of city has become ‘highly challenging’ for the mercenary group

Russian forces have made progress in the frontline hotspot of Bakhmut, a key target of Moscow’s months-long campaign in eastern Ukraine that has resulted in many casualties, the Associated Press reported.

Their assault , however, will be difficult to sustain without further harsh losses, UK military officials said in an assessment on Saturday.

Ukrainian forces ward off numerous assaults in and around besieged eastern city, says military, while resupply routes become ‘increasingly limited’

• What we know on day 375 of the invasion

Western states delivering fighter jets to support Ukraine defending itself against Russia is “only a question of time”, Latvia’s prime minister has said.

Speaking to German news magazine Der Spiegel, Krišjānis Kariņš said his own country would not hesitate to send jets to Kyiv “if we had any.”

Across the whole of Europe we need a lot more reservists: trained people who can be deployed at the shortest notice.”

The lethality of the standard-issue MPL-50 entrenching tool is particularly mythologised in Russia. Little changed since it was designed in 1869, its continued use as a weapon highlights the brutal and low-tech fighting which has come to characterise much of the war.

One of the reservists described being ‘neither physically nor psychologically’ prepared for the action.

Moscow says details need to be analysed after western leaders say Beijing lacks credibility to act as mediator

• What we know on day 369 of the invasion

Ukraine’s ministry of defence has claimed that overnight its forces shot down 11 Iranian-made Shahed drones. It also confirmed that an officer of Ukraine’s emergency services was killed in Khmelnytskyi.

The claims have not been independently verified.