Russia's Defence Ministry has said that two of its military commanders were killed in eastern Ukraine, as Kyiv's forces renewed efforts to breakthrough Russian defences in the embattled city of Bakhmut.
In a daily briefing, the ministry said that Commander Vyacheslav Makarov of the 4th Motorized Rifle Brigade and Deputy Commander Yevgeny Brovko from a separate unit were killed trying to repel Ukrainian attacks.
It said that Makarov had been leading troops from the frontline, and that Brovko "died heroically, suffering multiple shrapnel wounds". The defence ministry rarely announces the deaths of military command in its daily briefings.
It also said Ukrainian forces waged attacks in the north and south of Bakhmut over the past 24 hours, but that they had not broken through Russian defences.
"All attacks by units of Ukraine's armed forces have been repelled," it said.
Reuters was not able to independently verify Russia's account.
The Ukrainian government has claimed that its forces have captured more than ten Russian positions on the outskirts of Bakhmut.
"Today our units have captured more than ten enemy positions in the northern and southern outskirts of Bakhmut," Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar claimed on social media.
"Enemy soldiers of various units have been captured," she said.
"Anyone who knows the real situation and is there now understands the gravity of what is happening," <s Malyar added.
She said that "fierce" fighting continued in Bakhmut, located in the eastern region of Donetsk, and that Russians were trying to advance and destroying "everything" on their way.
Neither Ukraine or Russian forces have been able to take full control of the city, despite months of grinding warfare that has inflicted heavy losses on both sides.
On Friday Russia acknowledged that its forces had fallen back north of Bakhmut amid a surge of Ukrainian attacks, but Kyiv has played down suggestions a huge, long-planned counteroffensive has officially begun.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Kyiv and its Western supporters could make a Russian defeat in the war in Ukraine "irreversible" as early as this year and thanked Germany for being a "true friend" during a visit to Berlin.
Mr Zelensky secured a large military boost on his visit, with the German government announcing €2.7 billion of military aid to Ukraine yesterday, its biggest such package since Russia's invasion in February last year.
Ukraine is expected to launch major counter-offensive operations in the coming weeks to try to recapture tracts of its east and south from Russian forces.
On his first visit to Germany since the Russian invasion began, Mr Zelensky said Kyiv was prepared to discuss outside peace initiatives from other states but that those proposals should be based on Ukraine's position and its peace plan.
Kyiv has ruled out the idea of any territorial concessions to Russia and has said it wants every inch of its land back. Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and since last year has claimed to have annexed four other Ukrainian regions, which Moscow now calls Russian land.
Yesterday Mr Zelensky met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Pope Francis.
