Ukraine Update…331 days into the Russian move on the Ukraine….Bakhumut fight contiunes….

Reznikov defended the decision to keep Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut, an eastern city that has been besieged for weeks, as a military tactic, not a political one.

Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.

• Reznikov said that Ukraine will receive fighter jets from the West eventually, but that what kind they’ll be is yet to be decided. He did not specify why he was confident that the aid would arrive. President Biden last week said the United States would not send F-16s to Ukraine, but that comment elicited skepticism from the Pentagon.
• Reznikov also hinted at his potential resignation, but said that would be Zelensky’s decision. “No authority sits in the same chair for their entire life, so you have to be prepared for this fate,” Reznikov said. “As a former lawyer, I’m optimistic that even if I’m not in this role, I’ll have a role that will allow me to punish the Russians.” Zelensky has recently dismissed several top officials in a shake-up; Reznikov has not been implicated in alleged corruption.
• Crews expect to finish their work by Friday on Odessa’s electrical substation, where an accident this weekend caused a severe fire, said Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, the Ukrenergo utility’s chairman. About 300,000 people had limited electricity Sunday, down from almost 500,000 who lost power initially. Kudrytskyi blamed the accident on recent Russian attacks on Ukrainian electricity infrastructure, but he did not specify an exact cause.
• A Kharkiv strike injured five people and damaged a university and a residential building, local officials said. Those injured include a security guard who was working at an educational institution, a 54-year-old woman and three middle-aged men, according to the regional governor. Oleh Synyehubov said rescue efforts are ongoing. Photos from the scene show residents being evacuated and emergency personnel working amid the rubble.

• Zelensky said Saturday that the situation was “very difficult” in eastern Ukraine, especially around Bakhmut, Vuhledar and Lyman. Ukraine has said it will keep fighting for Bakhmut, even as Russia is tightening its grip on the city. Ukrainian losses are mounting in Bakhmut, where a U.S. citizen, Pete Reed, was killed this month while working as a volunteer paramedic with an outreach group.
• Russian forces made small advances toward Bakhmut, and the city “is increasingly isolated,” according to the British Defense Ministry. Last week, forces from the Wagner mercenary group “highly likely seized” a road connecting Bakhmut with the town of Siversk roughly 23 miles northeast, the ministry said. Now, the two main roads to Bakhmut available to Ukrainian forces are probably “both threatened by direct fire,” it added.
• The Russian tycoon behind the Wagner Group denied rumors circulating in Russian media that Ukrainian forces are retreating from the area around Bakhmut. “Ukrainian forces are not retreating anywhere. They are fighting to the last,” Yevgeniy Prigozhin said on Telegram, according to Reuters. “Fierce battles are going on in the northern quarters for every street, every house, every stairwell.”
• “Russia is concentrating troops and military equipment to stage a decisive offensive” around Bakhmut and the Luhansk region, the Institute for the Study of War think tank said. ISW analysts said the sustained military effort to encircle Bakhmut has prevented Russia from assembling the troops needed to attack Zaporizhzhia from the east…..

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