May 12, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

The Russian Ministry of Defense has acknowledged its forces pulled back from areas north of the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut, claiming they moved to more advantageous defensive positions.

"In order to increase the stability of defense, units of the 'Southern' group of Russian troops occupied the line in the Maloilyinovka direction," the ministry said in its daily update on Friday.

The move, it said, would allow its troops to take advantage of "the favorable conditions of the Berkhivka reservoir," but it effectively confirms the loss of some kilometers of territory by Russian forces. 

Wagner mercenary group founder and financier Yevgeny Prigozhin responded to the ministry, saying, “this is called fleeing and not regrouping,” promising more details at a later stage. 

The ministry's announcement comes after an unusual late-night denial by the Russian defense ministry on Thursday, pushing back on reports that Ukrainian forces had made breakthroughs along the front lines around Bakhmut, namely in the direction of the village of Maloilyinovka.

Ukrainian forces have been able to push the Russians back 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) around Bakhmut over the past week, the country's deputy defense minister said Friday.

CNN's Tim Lister and Josh Pennington contributed previous reporting to this post.

The Kremlin refused to comment on CNN’s reporting that the US is considering a limited lifting of sanctions on Russia as part of a prisoner swap deal.

CNN reported Thursday that the US is exploring options, including narrow sanctions relief, to secure the release of two wrongfully detained Americans, former Marine Paul Whelan and journalist Evan Gershkovich, as there are currently no high-ranking Russian nationals in US prisons.

Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, declined to comment on whether Moscow had received such proposals from Washington and if it would consider such options. 

“We will not provide any comment on this topic at all,” Peskov said in response to questions from reporters.

Prisoner swaps: The US has secured high-profile prisoner swaps in the past. Last April, the Biden administration secured the release of American Trevor Reed, who’d been detained in Russia since 2019, in exchange for convicted Russian drug smuggler Konstantin Yaroshenko.

In December, Russia agreed to release American basketball star Griner in exchange for the infamous arms trafficker Viktor Bout.

However, it refused to release Whelan as part of the same deal. Whelan has been wrongfully detained in Russia since his 2018 arrest on espionage charges.

Unlike Griner and Reed, Russia is treating both Whelan and Gershkovich as spies. Over the course of years of conversations, Russian officials have indicated that in return for Whelan, they expect someone who is connected to Russia’s intelligence apparatus, current and former US officials said.

US officials expect Russia is likely to make similar demands for Gershkovich.

Read the full report here.

What’s eating Yevgeny Prigozhin?

In recent days, the boss of the Russian private military company Wagner seems to have gone into social-media meltdown, flooding his Telegram channel and other accounts with ever-more outrageous and provocative statements.

Among other things, Prigozhin revealed an apparently humiliating battlefield setback for Russia, fulminating this week that a Russian brigade had “fled” around eastern city of Bakhmut, threatening his troops with encirclement by the Ukrainian forces.

Earlier in the week, Prigozhin marred Russia’s May 9 Victory Day celebrations with public and profanity-laced criticisms of the country’s top military brass. “Victory Day is the victory of our grandfathers. We haven’t earned that victory one millimeter,” he said Tuesday.

And then there was a more cryptic comment that raised eyebrows on social media. Accusing Moscow again of leaving his troops lacking in supplies, Prigozhin suggested that the higher-ups were dithering while Wagner fighters died.

“Instead of spending a shell to kill the enemy, they kill our soldiers. And happy grandfather thinks this is okay,” he said.

That begged the question: Whom, exactly, is Prigozhin referring to? After all, “grandfather in the bunker" is one of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s favorite monikers for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Prigozhin quickly backpedaled on his “grandfather” comment, recording a subsequent voice memo clarifying that he might be referring to the former Defense Minister Deputy Mikhail Mizintsev or Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov (or, more bizarrely, pro-war blogger Nataliya Khim).

But could his criticisms land him in trouble – or is it a sign of Moscow’s growing weaknesses?

Read the full analysis here.

The Kremlin has acknowledged the offensive to take Bakhmut has been “difficult” and has created an “emotional situation,” in an apparent reference to the feud between Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu. 

“I can tell you one thing: yes, indeed, quite an emotional situation. Very difficult offensive operations are being carried out there,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said during an interview with Bosnian news outlet ATV on Wednesday, according to state news agency TASS.

“This is a very strong fortified area, a huge grouping of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is concentrated there, which constantly receives replenishment. Including foreign equipment, and foreign ammunition. Therefore, of course, emotions are running high there,” he added.

Without naming Prigozhin or Shoigu, Peskov seemed to address the rift between the two, saying they were unified in their goals.

“I will not name different names, but I will say: no matter what is said, no matter what statements are made, we are still talking about, let's say, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,” he explained. “These are all Russian forces, unified forces. And they pursue one single goal.”

The Kremlin spokesman also said he was sure Russia would conquer Bakhmut. 

“We have no doubt that Artemovsk (Russia's name for Bakhmut) will be taken, it will continue to be held,” he said.

Some background: Russian forces have tried for months to capture the eastern city of Bakhmut. Some of the fighting has been carried out by troops from Russia’s official army, provided by Shoigu’s defense ministry – but most of the manpower has been provided by the Wagner group, Prigozhin’s private mercenary company.

While the fighting continues to rage around Bakhmut, another type of battle has been playing out on the sidelines – as Prigozhin has launched a series of public tirades against Moscow, berating Russia’s military leadership for sitting “like fat cats” while his Wagner troops die by the thousands. He has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the area if not provided with more supplies.

A request from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to address the Eurovision Song Contest final in the United Kingdom on Saturday has been denied, organizers have said — but a Zelensky spokesperson denied his office had contacted the contest in the first place.

In a statement posted on its website on Thursday, the European Broadcasting Union — an alliance of public service media organizations that oversees the event — stressed the importance of the "nonpolitical" nature of Eurovision. 

"This principle prohibits the possibility of making political or similar statements as part of the Contest," the EBU added. 

The Ukrainian leader would likely have continued his pattern of using addresses at high profile international events toj draw attention to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

However, Zelensky's spokesperson Sergiy Nykyforov has since denied reports that Kyiv contacted the Eurovision Song Contest.

"The Office of the President of Ukraine did not contact the organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest with a proposal to have Volodymyr Zelensky addressing online during the final or at any other stage of the contest," he wrote on Facebook.

Some background: This year’s Eurovision Song Contest is being held in the English city of Liverpool – with the grand final coming on Saturday. Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra won last year, with a wave of support across Europe sweeping the nation to victory.

As is tradition, the winner earns the right to host the next year’s competition. But, due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, the UK is hosting this year’s event – the first time that the contest is being held on behalf of another nation. The UK's entry came second last year.

The EBU says it has taken great pains to ensure that Ukrainian music and culture feature prominently throughout the live semi-final and grand final events, which are being hosted by British broadcaster the BBC on behalf of Ukraine’s public broadcaster, UA:PBC.

The EBU listed the appearance of 11 Ukrainian musical acts, collaborations with a Ukrainian design agency on branding and a series of 37 short films as examples of the "best way" to "reflect and celebrate Ukraine’s Eurovision Song Contest win and show we are United By Music during these hard times."

Ukraine and Russia are “moving towards” an agreement on extending the United Nations-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative, Turkey's Defense Ministry said in a statement Friday. 

The current deal, which enables the safe export of Ukrainian grain through the countries' Black Sea ports, was renewed for 60 days in March and is set to expire on May 18.

“The Black Sea agreement which was signed with the help of Turkey has allowed more than 30 million tons of grain to be exported to countries that need it,” the Turkish Defense Ministry statement added.

China’s special representative of Eurasian affairs Li Hui will visit Ukraine next week to “promote peace talks,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed Friday. 

Li’s trip will begin on May 15, and he will travel to Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany and Russia during the tour. 

The visit comes after Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke with his his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky by phone last month for the first time since Russia's invasion began last year.

China has repeatedly attempted to portray itself as a peacemaker in the conflict, but Western countries have viewed Beijing’s intentions with deep suspicion as it forges deepening ties with Moscow.

Ukrainian forces have been able to push the Russians back 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) around the eastern city of Bakhmut over the past week, the country's deputy defense minister said Friday.

“The enemy failed to realize its plans; the enemy suffered heavy losses in manpower; our defenders advanced 2 km in the Bakhmut direction,” said Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar in a Telegram post.

Bakhmut is the site of a months-long assault by Russian forces, including Wagner mercenaries, that has driven thousands from their homes and left the area devastated. But despite the vast amounts of manpower Russia has poured into capturing the city, they have been unable to take total control, and this week suffered heavy losses in the area.

CNN had previously reported Ukrainian counterattacks and advances in the flanks of Bakhmut as it tries to defend the fiercely contested battlefront. Overnight, the Russian Defense Ministry pushed back against reports Ukraine had broken through their lines in the area. 

Yevgeny Prigozhin on Friday invited Russia's defense minister to visit the embattled eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut to assess the situation there — the latest provocative statement by the Wagner chief on the Kremlin's war leadership.

Prigozhin has ramped up complaints about his own mercenary fighters' battlefield setbacks, and blamed a lack of ammunition to take Bakhmut on the Russian Ministry of Defense, pointing at Shoigu and Russian army chief Gen. Valeri Gerasimov.

The private military company boss has in recent days also complained again that areas captured by his fighters around Bakhmut at the expense of heavy casualties are now being lost to the Ukrainians.