Russia

At the G7 summit in Japan, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said Kyiv's forces were still fighting for the city. But even if Bakhmut falls, gains on its outskirts could give Ukraine a tactical opportunity.

Andrew E. Kramer

Russia's claim of victory in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut suggests that the brutal urban combat that marked the deadliest battle of its war in Ukraine might be over. But what comes next is far from clear.

While Moscow is trumpeting a "Mission Accomplished" moment in its war, Ukraine — even as it insists Bakhmut has not completely fallen — sees an opening to seize the initiative from the city's outskirts if Russian forces are no longer pressing forward inside the city's center.

Russia's capture of Bakhmut would be a powerful symbolic success for Moscow. It would represent the first Ukrainian city it has seized since Lysychansk last summer, and be a setback for Kyiv, which expended precious ammunition and sent some of its most capable forces to try to thwart Russia's devastating monthslong assault on the city. Thousands of troops from both sides are believed to have been killed in nearly a year of intense fighting there.

But the city is now in ruins, and controlling it would not necessarily help Moscow toward its larger stated goal — conquering the entire eastern region of Donbas — now that Ukrainian troops have worn out Russian forces and broken through their defenses in some areas to the city's north and south.

"You have to understand, there is nothing," President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said of the razed city, once home to 80,000 people, during a news conference in Hiroshima, Japan, where he sought aid and weapons from the world's wealthiest democracies.

"They destroyed everything," Mr. Zelensky said. "There are no buildings. It's a pity, it's a tragedy, but for today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing on this space, just ground and a lot of dead Russians."

Now that Russia has seemingly taken the city, it must hold it.

Ukraine, however, plans to make that proposition difficult by raining artillery on Russian forces occupying Bakhmut, according to Ukrainian officials. Military analysts say that if Moscow continues to send reinforcements to defend the city, that could weaken Russian forces’ ability to hold off a broader counteroffensive that Ukraine says it is about to begin.

A British defense intelligence assessment on Saturday said Moscow had redeployed "up to several battalions to reinforce" its forces in Bakhmut, calling the deployment "a notable commitment" for Russia's heavily stretched combat forces in Ukraine.

Among the challenges for Russia are divining the intentions of Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, head of the Wagner private mercenary company, which spearheaded the urban fighting. Mr. Prigozhin on Saturday declared victory in Bakhmut and said his mercenaries would withdraw from the city by Thursday. But military analysts said it was unclear whether Mr. Prigozhin could pull out so abruptly along a hotly contested front line without dire consequences for the Russians in the city.

It also was unclear how much of the city Ukrainian forces still held and whether Russian reinforcements deployed toward Bakhmut would rotate in to replace Wagner troops or bolster Russia's faltering defenses on the city's outskirts.

Territory reclaimed

by Ukraine since

May 10

HELD BY

RUSSIA

Bakhmut

HELD BY

UKRAINE

Approximate

city boundary

Russian-claimed

control

UKRAINE

Bakhmut

2 miles

Territory reclaimed

by Ukraine since

May 10

HELD BY

RUSSIA

Bakhmut

HELD BY

UKRAINE

Approximate

city boundary

Russian-claimed

control

UKRAINE

Bakhmut

2 miles

HELD BY

RUSSIA

Territory reclaimed

by Ukraine since

May 10

Bakhmut

HELD BY

UKRAINE

Approximate

city boundary

Russian-claimed

control

UKRAINE

Bakhmut

2 miles

HELD BY

RUSSIA

Territory reclaimed

by Ukraine since

May 10

Bakhmut

HELD BY

UKRAINE

Approximate

city boundary

Russian-claimed

control

UKRAINE

Bakhmut

2 miles

As of May 21

Sources: Institute for the Study of War with the American Enterprise Institute's Critical Threats Project (control areas) and OpenStreetMap (city boundary and base map)

By Josh Holder

In recent days, Russian forces clawing their way west through the city have fought through a final neighborhood of high-rise apartment blocks, reaching an expanse of garages, farmhouses and open fields to the west. The Ukrainian military said on Sunday it still held several buildings in that area.

But even as Kyiv's forces stepped back from the block-by-block fighting, they brought in reinforcements to shore up rear positions, securing roads and supply lines west of Bakhmut. And they focused on attacking Russian positions to the north and south of the city. A battle on May 6 breached Russian lines south of the village of Ivanivske and forced Russian soldiers into a disorganized retreat.

Ukraine's deputy defense minister, Hanna Maliar, said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had recently recaptured high ground on the city's outskirts, and that those advances would "really complicate the enemy's presence in Bakhmut."

If Ukrainian forces can continue their counterattack, it would put Russia on the defensive across nearly all of the front line, which stretches for hundreds of miles. For months, Bakhmut has been among the few places where Russia was gaining ground in the war.

Ukraine's military said on Sunday that it had launched an overnight strike on the Russian-occupied port city of Berdiansk, the latest attempt to target occupied territory in the country's south ahead of a widely anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive. Vladimir Rogov, a Russian occupation official, said that a missile had fallen on the city's outskirts but that there were no casualties, according to Russia's TASS news agency.

Ukrainian commanders have said that their goal all along in Bakhmut was to pin down the Russian Army in a protracted fight, kill as many of its soldiers as possible and buy time for Ukraine to prepare and rearm — with Western weapons — for a wider counteroffensive.

A Russian capture of Bakhmut "will mean nothing, actually," predicted Col. Serhiy Hrabsky, a commentator on the war for the Ukrainian news media. "The Russians have exhausted their offensive capabilities, and that is why they so desperately declare they have captured Bakhmut."

Even as the Ukrainians sought to play down Russia's successes, Russian state media on Sunday celebrated the purported capture of Bakhmut.

A segment on a leading morning newscast on Sunday compared the battle for Bakhmut to the Soviet Union's major victories in World War II. A Russian fighter was shown saying he felt "probably the same emotions as our grandpas did in Berlin" as Russian forces swarmed the city at the end of World War II.

The anchor declared, "Mission accomplished."

The state-run Channel 1 newscast cited statements by President Vladimir V. Putin and Russia's Defense Ministry that gave Wagner partial credit for capturing the city. Channel 1 also featured footage of armed men described as Wagner fighters yelling, "Bakhmut is ours!"

But even as the newscast featured Bakhmut as its top story, one man went unmentioned: Mr. Prigozhin, the founder of Wagner and a close ally of Mr. Putin's who has often been at odds with Russia's military leadership.

The noticeable omission underscored the lengths Russia's propaganda machine has been going to hide from the Russian people any sign of elite infighting or problems on the front line.

Sunday morning's newscast showed extensive aerial footage of the destruction and desolation in Bakhmut but claimed that Ukrainian forces had destroyed their own city — an echo of Russia's false narrative when it captured the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol a year ago.

"They weren't able to hold on to the city," a reporter on the ground in Bakhmut said, referring to Ukrainian forces. "So they are trying to raze it to the ground."

Peter Baker contributed reported from Hiroshima, Japan, Anton Troianovski from Berlin and Matthew Mpoke Bigg from London.

Traci Carl

Paul Whelan, a former Marine who has been detained in Russia for more than four years, told CNN on Sunday that he feels confident his case is a priority for the U.S. government, but he worries that Russia's recent arrest of the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich could further complicate matters. "That's an extreme worry for me and my family," he said.

Daniel Victor

Two months after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, the Russian authorities retaliated by bringing their own cases against officials for the Netherlands-based court, the Russian Investigative Committee said in a statement on Sunday.

Citing the war crimes cases against Mr. Putin and another Russian official, the committee said it had charged an I.C.C. prosecutor and three judges in absentia.

The prosecutor, Karim Khan, was charged under a law forbidding "criminal prosecution of a person known to be innocent," according to Tass, a Russian state news agency. He and the judges — Tomoko Akane, Rosario Salvatore Aitala and Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godinez — were also accused of preparing an attack on a representative of a foreign state "to complicate international relations."

Tass reported on Friday that the four officials had been put on a wanted list. On Saturday, the I.C.C. said in a statement that it was "profoundly concerned about unwarranted and unjustified coercive measures reportedly taken against I.C.C. officials."

"The court will remain undeterred in the conduct of its lawful mandate to ensure accountability for the gravest crimes of concern to the international community as a whole," the court said. It did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on Sunday.

The I.C.C. issued its arrest warrant for Mr. Putin in March, accusing him and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's commissioner for children's rights, of war crimes for their role in the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February last year. The effort was not merely symbolic, but the court cannot try defendants in absentia and Russia has said it will not surrender its own officials.

Still, the arrest warrant could limit Mr. Putin's movements outside of Russia, further isolating him from the West. Russia has dismissed the warrants as "meaningless."

Randy Pennell

In his nightly address, President Volodymyr Zelensky said his recent travels had been "very difficult yet very important." Speaking from an airplane seat, Zelensky said his country had an "understanding with the world majority on every important point for Ukraine."

Julian E. Barnes

President Biden's national security adviser said on Sunday that the United States has delivered the equipment Ukraine needs to begin a widely expected counteroffensive and is now working on improving Ukraine's long-term capacity to deter Russia, including by training Kyiv's pilots on F-16 fighter jets.

While cautioning that Mr. Biden has not made a final decision, the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said it was unlikely that the U.S. would provide its own fighter jets to Ukraine. Instead, other allies could send their own F-16s while the United States would provide training and other military assistance, he said.

Appearing on the CNN program "State of the Union," Mr. Sullivan would not offer a timetable for when European allies might deliver fighter planes or when the American F-16 training would begin. But he did say those would be part of a forthcoming effort to improve Ukraine's long-term security.

"It is about building a future capability so that for years to come Ukraine is in a position to be able to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity," he said. "At every stage, the United States has played a critical role in making sure Ukraine gets what it needs, when it needs it. And we will continue to do that."

That effort would be part of what Mr. Sullivan described as the fourth phase of American military assistance to Ukraine. The first was the provision of short-range missiles to defend Kyiv, and the second was the provision of artillery to aid in trench warfare in Ukraine's east. The third phase, which Mr. Sullivan said the U.S. is primarily focused on now, is supplying the tanks and other equipment necessary for the coming counteroffensive.

Mr. Sullivan said the president was "focused on the types of systems needed for the phase of the fight that is at hand, and for this counteroffensive he has delivered at speed and at scale what the Ukrainians need."

Matthew Mpoke Bigg

Ukraine retains control of a small part of Bakhmut and has made advances on its outskirts, the commander of Kyiv's ground forces, Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, said on Sunday, part of a drumbeat of statements from Ukrainian officials disputing Russia's claim that its forces had seized the eastern city.

"Despite the fact that we now control a small part of Bakhmut, the importance of its defense does not lose its relevance," General Syrsky said in comments reported on the Telegram messaging app by Ukraine's General Staff.

Ukrainian forces, he added, had continued to make advances on Bakhmut's flanks and were "close to tactically encircling the city."

It was not possible to independently verify either Ukrainian or Russian claims about the status of Bakhmut, site of the deadliest battle since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine 15 months ago. But after Russia's Defense Ministry said that it had fully captured the city, Ukrainian officials — including President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Group of 7 summit in Japan — insisted on Sunday that the battle was not over.

Ukraine's deputy defense minister, Hanna Maliar, claimed that the country's forces control a southwestern district of the city known as Litak, or "airplane," which is close to a road used for resupply that runs to the town of Chasiv Yar.

Ukrainian military officials also claimed further advances north and south of the city. On some days last week, Ukrainian forces advanced between 250 yards and around one mile to the north and south of the city, Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesman for Ukrainian forces fighting in the east, said on national television.

General Syrsky said the Ukrainian advance outside of Bakhmut "deprives the enemy of control over the approaches to the city and gives us certain tactical advantages."

Motoko Rich

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine wrapped up his appearance at the Group of 7 summit in Japan with a visit to Hiroshima's atomic bomb museum, saying on Sunday that he saw echoes of his own country's pain in images of the 1945 devastation.

Mr. Zelensky later told a news conference that the experience had brought tears to his eyes, invoking the bloody battle for Bakhmut, the eastern Ukrainian city that Russia earlier on Sunday claimed to have captured despite Ukrainian insistence to the contrary.

While it "wouldn't be fair" to compare the attack on Hiroshima to what was happening in his country, Mr. Zelensky said, "the pictures of ruined Hiroshima really totally remind me of Bakhmut."

"Nothing alive is left," he added.

Mr. Zelensky echoed the statements from Ukrainian military officials who have rejected claims that Bakhmut had been captured, saying "we are fighting on thanks to the courage of our warriors," and expressed gratitude for the support shown to his country at the three-day summit of leaders of the world's wealthiest democracies.

The president declined to provide details of military aid pledges he had secured at the summit, saying only that "weapons of high quality will be provided." But he said he was pleased with the results of his meetings in Japan and that he hoped countries that have resisted sending lethal weapons would reconsider.

"I would like all of the states that are capable to provide help to us," Mr. Zelensky said, acknowledging that some — including the host nation — had legislative or constitutional limitations to contend with.

While in Japan, Mr. Zelensky met with the leaders of close allies — including the United States, Britain, France and Germany — and also of countries such as India that have offered less full-throated condemnation of Moscow's invasion.

Asked if he was disappointed that he had not met privately with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil — who has condemned President Vladimir V. Putin's invasion but also suggested that Mr. Zelensky and NATO share some blame for the war — the Ukrainian leader's response drew laughs.

"I think it disappointed him," Mr. Zelensky told reporters.

Matthew Mpoke Bigg

Ukraine's military said it had launched a strike on the Russian-occupied port city of Berdiansk overnight, the latest attempt to target occupied territory in the country's south ahead of a widely anticipated counteroffensive. Vladimir Rogov, a Russian occupation official, said one missile had fallen on the outskirts of the city and there were no casualties, according to Russia's Tass news agency.

Andrew E. Kramer

Russia's claim of victory in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut suggests that the brutal urban combat that marked the deadliest battle of its war in Ukraine might be over. But what comes next is far from clear.

While Moscow is trumpeting a "Mission Accomplished" moment in its war, Ukraine — even as it insists Bakhmut has not completely fallen — sees an opening to seize the initiative from the city's outskirts if Russian forces are no longer pressing forward inside the city's center.

Russia's capture of Bakhmut would be a powerful symbolic success for Moscow. It would represent the first Ukrainian city it has seized since Lysychansk last summer, and be a setback for Kyiv, which expended precious ammunition and sent some of its most capable forces to try to thwart Russia's devastating monthslong assault on the city. Thousands of troops from both sides are believed to have been killed in nearly a year of intense fighting there.

But the city is now in ruins, and controlling it would not necessarily help Moscow toward its larger stated goal — conquering the entire eastern region of Donbas — now that Ukrainian troops have worn out Russian forces and broken through their defenses in some areas to the city's north and south.

Now that Russia has seemingly taken the city, it must hold it.

Ukraine, however, plans to make that proposition difficult by raining artillery on Russian forces occupying Bakhmut, according to Ukrainian officials. Military analysts say that if Moscow continues to send reinforcements to defend the city, that could weaken Russian forces’ ability to hold off a broader counteroffensive that Ukraine says it is about to begin.

David E. Sanger

President Biden on Sunday invited the leaders of Japan and South Korea to Washington this summer for a trilateral meeting that the United States hopes will push the two nations toward a full reconciliation.

A repairing of ties would enable America's two largest allies in the Pacific to work together on a range of security issues. The United States, Japan and South Korea have common challenges in the region with the rise of China and continuing ballistic threats from North Korea.

In a statement after Mr. Biden met with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan and President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea, the White House said the president had praised Mr. Kishida and Mr. Yoon's "courageous work to improve their bilateral ties" and that leaders had discussed how to take their cooperation "to new heights."

In recent months, with quiet pushing from Washington, Mr. Kishida and Mr. Yoon have exchanged visits to address disputes dating back to the Japanese occupation of Korea in the first half of the 20th century.

Mr. Biden has praised them both for "political courage" in taking steps to resolve the issues, which have included a South Korean announcement of a government-backed fund to compensate former wartime laborers.

The U.S. hope is to get past the disputes so that the two nations can coordinate directly on regional defense.

In April, during Mr. Yoon's state visit to Washington, the United States and South Korea announced the creation of a "Nuclear Consultative Group" to coordinate military responses to North Korea. Japan was conspicuously absent from that agreement, but the White House is hoping that by the end of the year Japan will also join.

Peter Baker

President Biden has defended his resistance until recent days to providing F-16 jets to Ukraine, arguing that the powerful warplanes would not have made any difference in stopping Russian forces from taking Bakhmut, the hotly contested city in eastern Ukraine that may be on the verge of falling.

"F-16s would not have helped in that regard at all," he told reporters at a news conference wrapping up the three-day Group of 7 summit meeting in Hiroshima, Japan. "It was unnecessary. For example, let's take this Bakhmut, for example. It would not have any additional added consequence."

The president's comments came just a couple of days after he reversed course on the F-16s, agreeing to allow Ukrainian pilots to be trained on the American-made jets and to work with European allies to transfer some of theirs to Kyiv's military. It was the latest example of Mr. Biden's declining for a period of time to provide Ukraine with an advanced weapons system, only to eventually agree.

Mr. Biden, who has been hesitant to provide some of the most sophisticated weapons sought by Ukraine for fear of provoking Russia into further escalating the war, argued that he was trying to calibrate which weapons to provide when they are most needed. "So it's a different need, just like tanks weren't needed in the beginning, but they’re needed now," Mr. Biden said.

His reversal on the F-16s came just before he met with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine face to face in Hiroshima. When they sat down together earlier on Sunday, Mr. Biden touted his decision on the F-16s, and Mr. Zelensky thanked him.

Later, at the news conference, Mr. Biden said he had secured a promise by Mr. Zelensky not to use the jets to strike targets in Russia.

"I have a flat assurance from Zelensky that they will not, they will not use it to go on, to move into Russian geographic territory," Mr. Biden said. "But wherever Russian troops are in Ukraine, in the area, they would be able to do that."

Motoko Rich

Zelensky said his visit to Hiroshima's atomic bomb museum brought tears to his eyes. While it "wouldn't be fair" to compare the attack on Hiroshima to what was happening in his country, he said, "the pictures of ruined Hiroshima really totally remind me of Bakhmut." "Nothing alive is left," he added.

Anton Troianovski

Russia's state media celebrated the purported capture of Bakhmut on Sunday, but a key leader of its monthslong assault against the city in eastern Ukraine was struggling to get credit.

A segment on a leading morning newscast on Sunday compared the battle for Bakhmut to the Soviet Union's major victories in World War II. A Russian fighter was shown saying he felt "probably the same emotions as our grandpas did in Berlin." The anchor declared: "Mission accomplished."

But even as the newscast, on state-run Channel 1, featured Bakhmut as its top story, one man went unmentioned: Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary force that lost thousands of fighters during months of frontal assaults on the city, and a vocal critic of Russia's military leadership.

The noticeable omission underscored the lengths to which Russia's propaganda machine has been going to hide any sign of elite infighting or problems on the front line from the Russian people.

While Ukraine's military insists Bakhmut has not been lost, the Channel 1 newscast cited the statements late Saturday by President Vladimir V. Putin and the Russian Defense Ministry that both gave Wagner partial credit for capturing the city. Channel 1 also featured footage of armed men described as Wagner fighters yelling "Bakhmut is ours!"

But the newscast did not show or mention Mr. Prigozhin, who was first to proclaim Bakhmut's purported capture on Saturday in a video. In his announcement, Mr. Prigozhin stood against the backdrop of the ruined city and excoriated Russia's top general and Russia's defense minister for "turning the war into their personal entertainment."

As the battle for Bakhmut dragged on and casualties on both sides mounted this year, Mr. Prigozhin frequently lashed out at the Russian military elite, claiming that they failed to provide his fighters with enough ammunition and failed to ensure that regular Russian troops stood their ground when attacked on Wagner's flanks. In his announcement on Saturday, Mr. Prigozhin predicted that his criticism would not be shown on television.

"Two realities exist in our country," Mr. Prigozhin said Saturday. "One is real, the other one is for television."

In fact, Russian officials earlier this year were already directing state television talking heads not to "excessively promote" Mr. Prigozhin, The New York Times reported in February.

For nearly a year, Russian forces have pressed in on Bakhmut while at the same time laying waste — block by bloody block — to what had once been a vibrant salt-mining city of 70,000 people.

Sunday morning's newscast showed extensive aerial footage of the destruction and desolation in Bakhmut but claimed that it was Ukrainian forces that had destroyed their own city — an echo of Russia's false narrative when it captured the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol a year ago.

"They weren't able to hold on to the city," a reporter on the ground in Bakhmut said, referring to Ukrainian forces. "So they are trying to raze it to the ground."

Motoko Rich

Zelensky said he was pleased with the results of his meetings in Japan and that he hoped countries which have resisted sending lethal weapons would reconsider. "I would like all of the states that are capable to provide help to us," he said, acknowledging that some had legal limitations.

Matthew Mpoke Bigg

Ukrainian forces still retain control over a residential part of Bakhmut as well as industrial facilities, Ukraine's deputy defense minister, Hanna Maliar, said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.

Motoko Rich

President Zelensky of Ukraine is now speaking at a news conference and says Russia is not occupying Bakhmut, reinforcing statements from senior Ukrainian officials that Moscow's forces were not in full control of the city.

Peter Baker

President Biden defends his resistance to providing F-16s to Ukraine to this point, arguing that in the battle for Bakhmut, for instance, the fighter jets would not have made a difference.

Peter Baker

On China, the other major foreign policy issue at the summit, Biden said: "I don't think there's anything inevitable about the notion that there's going to be this conflict" between the West and Beijing. But he added that other regional powers are aligned to resist aggression. "I think we’re more united than we’ve ever been in the Pacific," he said.

Peter Baker

At his news conference wrapping up the three-day G7 summit, President Biden vowed that major powers would remain united behind Ukraine. "We will not waver," he said. "Putin will not break our resolve as he thought he would."

Motoko Rich

In a speech at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan stood before an eternal flame and a cenotaph commemorating the victims of the atomic bomb that devastated this city in 1945 and reiterated his hope for the elimination of nuclear weapons.

"Dreams and ideals are different. Ideals are within reach. Toward the ideal of our children, grandchildren, and descendants living on a planet free of nuclear weapons, from here Hiroshima, from today, each and every one of us, as Hiroshima citizens, step by step, let's take realistic steps forward," he said.

Yet such a vision seemed distant, with Russia having issued veiled threats about using nuclear weapons in its war with Ukraine, and North Korea continuing to build up its arsenal.

Mr. Kishida hailed the appearance of Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, at the Group of 7 summit, saying it offered a chance for the leaders of the world's wealthiest democracies to "demonstrate the unwavering solidarity between the G7 and Ukraine, and to send a strong message to the world that the G7 affirms the importance of a free and open international order based on the rule of law and renews our determination to defend it."

Noting global challenges, including climate change, Mr. Kishida said that the world's richest democratic nations must reach out to countries of the "global South."

"Failure to listen to the voices of these countries and people and to show cooperation on a wide range of urgent issues may render hollow the call to uphold a free and open international order based on the rule of law," he said.

With the summit coming to a close, Mr. Kishida brushed off rumors that he might soon call a snap election to seize on recently higher approval ratings.

"We are focused on producing results of the important policy issues; that is the priority," he said. "I am not thinking about dissolution of Parliament or a general election."

Mr. Zelensky later joined Mr. Kishida in laying flowers at the peace park.

Hikari Hida contributed reporting.

Peter Baker

President Biden is about to begin a news conference in Japan.

Hikari Hida

President Zelensky joined Japan's prime minister, Fumio Kishida, to lay flowers at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, which commemorates victims of the atomic bomb that the United States dropped there in 1945.

Anton Troianovski

Russian state television is trumpeting the claimed capture of Bakhmut as a "historic moment." But while the 10 a.m. newscast on Russia's Channel 1 covered the battle extensively as its top story, one name went unmentioned: that of Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner group, which led the Russian push into the city. Prigozhin has referred to Russia's top military leaders as traitors and accused them of failing to support his fighters in battle.

Anton Troianovski

Channel 1 did mention the Wagner group, and the Russian Defense Ministry's statement early on Sunday claiming the capture of Bakhmut credited "Wagner assault units" along with regular Russian forces. But the name of Wagner's bombastic chief — who was the first to declare the city captured — has been noticeably missing from the official statements.

Peter Baker

Did President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledge that Ukraine had lost Bakhmut to Russian forces or deny it? It depends on which part of the question he was answering.

Confusion arose from Mr. Zelensky's brief response on Sunday to a reporter who asked about the fate of the bitterly contested city in eastern Ukraine during a meeting with President Biden on the sidelines of the Group of 7 summit in Japan.

"Is Bakhmut still in Ukraine's hands?" the reporter asked, then paused for just a beat before prodding him by saying, "The Russians say they’ve taken Bakhmut."

"I think no," Mr. Zelensky answered.

But the Ukrainian leader did not clarify which part of the question he was saying "no" — the first part, on whether Ukraine still held Bakhmut, or the second part about Russia's claims that the city had been captured. The rest of Mr. Zelensky's answer seemed to suggest the former, because he spoke in sad terms, lamenting Bakhmut in a way that seemed to indicate that the city was lost.

"But you have to understand, there is nothing," Mr. Zelensky said. "They destroyed everything. There are no buildings. It's a pity, it's a tragedy, but for today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing on this space, just ground and a lot of dead Russians."

After news organizations flashed out headlines suggesting that Mr. Zelensky had acknowledged the loss of Bakhmut, though, a spokesman rushed to clarify the president's remarks. Serhiy Nikiforov, the spokesman, told The New York Times, and others, that Mr. Zelensky was actually responding to the second part of the reporter's question and disputing Russia's assertion that it had captured the city. Ukraine's military has insisted that fighting is ongoing in the city, though its toehold there has shrunk to just a few blocks.

Mr. Zelensky will have a chance to clarify for himself what he meant when he holds a news conference before leaving Hiroshima later on Sunday.

Peter Baker

President Biden announced a new package of American weaponry for Ukraine on Sunday as he met with President Volodomyr Zelensky in Japan and vowed to continue bolstering the embattled country's defenses against Russia's invasion.

The $375 million arms package includes ammunition, artillery, armored vehicles and other equipment for Ukraine's forces, which are preparing for a long-awaited counteroffensive. The announcement comes days after Mr. Biden agreed to allow Ukrainian pilots to be trained on American-made F-16 fighter jets, moving toward letting other countries give the planes to Ukraine, and imposed more sanctions on Russian officials and organizations.

"What the people in Ukraine are defending, what you’ve achieved is a matter for the entire world to observe, and they’re in awe of what you’ve done so far — really and truly, it's incredible," Mr. Biden told Mr. Zelensky during a meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 7 summit meeting in Hiroshima, Japan. "Together with the entire G7, we have Ukraine's back, and I promise we’re not going anywhere."

The meeting was the first between the two leaders since Mr. Biden made a surprise trip to Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, in February. The U.S. president, wearing a business suit and tie, sat next to Mr. Zelensky, wearing his signature olive shirt, and the two reminisced about that visit, when they marched outside to pay tribute to fallen Ukrainians even as air raid sirens were sounding. Mr. Biden recalled following Mr. Zelensky, who appeared unruffled. "Well, he doesn't care about the sirens, I don't care about the sirens," he recalled thinking.

Mr. Zelensky thanked Mr. Biden for the continued support, citing the F-16 decision specifically. "I think it will give us a more strong position on the battlefield," he said. "So we’re thankful."

Andrew E. Kramer

Cross-border artillery fire between Ukraine and Russia continued overnight into Sunday, a Russian regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said in a post on Telegram. Local residents also posted about a loud explosion and fire near the town of Shebekino, in the Belgorod border region of southern Russia.

Andrew E. Kramer

Throughout the war, Ukraine's government has not openly claimed responsibility for strikes inside Russia.

Andrew E. Kramer

A spokesman for Zelensky, Serhiy Nikiforov, later clarified that Ukraine's president was not saying Bakhmut had fallen — he was refuting Russia's claim that its forces had captured the city.

Peter Baker

What a difference a quarter-century makes. When I covered my first Group of 7 meeting in 1997 in Denver, it was the beginning of a new era. President Bill Clinton, the host, invited President Boris N. Yeltsin of Russia to participate and rebranded the meeting "the Summit of the Eight." From that point on, Russia was part of the club, and the G7 soon became the G8.

Now, all these years later, it is the G7 again and Russia is nowhere to be found for this year's meeting in Hiroshima, Japan. It was expelled nearly a decade ago for attacking its neighbor Ukraine, a symbol of Moscow's isolation from the international community. Instead, it is Ukraine's leader, President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is the guest of the world's major democracies, sitting at the table where Vladimir V. Putin is no longer welcome.

That first summit meeting with Russia in 1997 was memorable. Mr. Yeltsin was a complicated character. A hero for standing up to Soviet hard-liners and introducing a form of democracy to Russia, however flawed, Mr. Yeltsin was also a heavy drinker and unpredictable guest. During a 1995 visit to Washington, he was found in the middle of the night standing in his underwear on Pennsylvania Avenue outside the Blair House guest quarters, slurring his words and trying to hail a cab so he could get some pizza.

My memory of the Denver summit is that Mr. Yeltsin skipped the evening concert that Mr. Clinton had so carefully orchestrated after the official meetings. Aides claimed he was simply tired. Remembering Mr. Yeltsin's bouts with the bottle, others thought that maybe there was a little more to it than that. At one point, the local hospital was put on alert by the Russian delegation, although ultimately Mr. Yeltsin was not sent.

Escapades aside, it was a big deal for Russia to be included in the world's most exclusive club, and even Mr. Putin, the K.G.B. veteran who succeeded Mr. Yeltsin, seemed to value it. Mr. Putin was so excited about hosting Russia's first G8 meeting just outside his hometown, St. Petersburg, that he rebuilt a 1,000-room czarist palace started but never completed by Peter the Great. Mr. Putin added 20 additional mansions around it to house the visitors when they finally came in 2006. I toured it. It was spectacular.

Mr. Putin's next chance to host, however, would never happen. Shortly before he was to preside over a G8 meeting in Sochi in 2014, he launched his first invasion of Ukraine, prompting the rest of the club to kick Russia out. Now Mr. Putin is on the outside looking in.

Peter Baker

President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to concede that Ukraine had lost control of Bakhmut. When a reporter asked if it was still in Ukrainian hands and then noted that Russians had claimed to take it, Zelensky said, "I think no."

Peter Baker

He seemed to suggest, however, that it was an empty prize for the Russians. "You have to understand there is nothing left of it. They destroyed it." He added: "But for today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing."

Peter Baker

Zelensky said the only thing left in Bakhmut is "a lot of dead Russians."

Andrew E. Kramer

The Russian navy has positioned two warships and two submarines in the Black Sea suggesting a planned missile strike on Ukraine to coincide with the G7 summit in Japan, the spokeswoman for Ukraine's southern military command, said in an interview on Ukrainian television.

Peter Baker

President Biden announced the latest package of weapons for Ukraine as he sat down with President Volodomyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima. Biden said the Ukrainians had impressed "the entire world" and everyone was "in awe of what you’ve done." Zelensky thanked him, praising him for the "difficult decisions" made to support Ukraine.

Motoko Rich

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine joined the leaders of the G7 summit for an hour-long meeting on Sunday morning, where they told him they would continue their "unwavering commitment to provide diplomatic, financial, humanitarian and military assistance to Ukraine," according to a statement issued after the meeting, in Hiroshima, by Japan's foreign ministry.

Peter Baker

Russia has expanded its list of sanctioned Americans in a tit-for-tat retaliation for the latest curbs imposed by the United States. But what is particularly striking is how much President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is adopting perceived enemies of former President Donald J. Trump as his own.

Among the 500 people singled out for travel and financial restrictions on Friday were Americans seen as adversaries by Mr. Trump, including Letitia James, the state attorney general of New York who has sued him for alleged fraud, and Jack Smith, the Justice Department special counsel investigating his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents after leaving office.

Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state of Georgia who rebuffed Mr. Trump's pressure to "find" enough votes to reverse the outcome of the election, also made the list. So did Lt. Michael Byrd, the Capitol Police officer who shot the pro-Trump rioter Ashli Babbitt on Jan. 6, 2021.

None of them has anything to do with Russia policy, and the only evident reason they would have come to Moscow's attention is because Mr. Trump has publicly assailed them. The Russian Foreign Ministry offered no specific explanation for why they would be included on the list but did say that among its targets were "those in government and law enforcement agencies who are directly involved in the persecution of dissidents in the wake of the so-called storming of the Capitol."

As recently as this month, Mr. Trump has tried to rewrite the history of that day and has dangled pardons for convicted rioters if he is elected to a second term. He also refused to commit to supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia if he is elected president again, saying instead he would seek to mediate between Kyiv and Moscow.

Presumably, the Russian sanctions will have little actual effect on Ms. James, Mr. Smith, Mr. Raffensperger or Lieutenant Byrd, since none of them is known to have assets in Russia or plans to travel there. Mr. Raffensperger reposted a tweet from Gabriel Sterling, his chief operating officer, who wrote: "A great honor for @GaSecofState Raffensperger. He is one of the hundreds of Americans banned from Russia by Vladimir Putin. That means Brad is doing it right."

Andrew E. Kramer

Ukraine continues to deny claims that Russian forces captured Bakhmut. "Over the past 24 hours the enemy carried out unsuccessful attacks," the Ukrainian military said on Sunday, in its first regular battlefield update since the Russian claim. It added: "The battle for the city of Bakhmut is not over."

Andrew E. Kramer

Ukrainian officials reported a Russian assault toward the village of Bila Hora southwest of Bakhmut, and rocket strikes and aerial bombing by Russia in nearby towns of Slovyansk, Druzhkivka and Invanivske. Earlier, the spokesman for Ukraine's eastern military command, Col. Serhiy Cherevaty, told local media that Ukrainian soldiers "hold several buildings in Bakhmut."

Motoko Rich

President Volodymyr Zelensky is taking advantage of his time in Hiroshima not only to talk to allies who have already extended support to Ukraine but to leaders of countries who have been more reluctant.

Christopher Buckley

In a sign that China and Russia remain close despite tensions over the war in Ukraine, China announced that a senior envoy, Chen Wenqing, the head of the Communist Party's political and legal affairs committee, would go to Russia for meetings about security cooperation.

Motoko Rich

A visually potent image of Zelensky seated between Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea was broadcast at the opening of a peace and security session, where observer countries were invited to join the G7 leaders.

Motoko Rich

India did not join the United Nations condemnation of the invasion of Russia and has maintained economic ties with Russia throughout the war. South Korea has so far been reluctant to send lethal weapons to Ukraine.

Marc Santora

The head of Russia's Wagner paramilitary group said his mercenaries had captured Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine on Saturday, a claim the Ukrainian military denied even as their soldiers have been forced into an ever shrinking patch of land inside the ruined city.

Senior Ukrainian military officials acknowledged that the situation inside the city was "critical," with soldiers facing an unrelenting barrage of artillery fire and powerful aerial bombardments. Nevertheless, they said, the Ukrainian forces were still engaged in combat operations.

The Russian Ministry of Defense and the Kremlin released a statement confirming the city had been "liberated," hours after the declaration by the Wagner chief, Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, that the fight for the city was over. After nearly a year of fighting, Bakhmut has taken on an outsize importance: a symbol of Ukrainian defiance and of Russian leaders’ determination to blast their way to a small victory in a little-known corner of eastern Ukraine.

In a video posted on the Telegram messaging app on Saturday, Mr. Prigozhin, standing before what appeared to be the city's destroyed railway station, held a Russian flag and declared victory. "Today, at noon, Bakhmut was completely taken," Mr. Prigozhin said "We completely took the whole city, from house to house."

About an hour later, Hanna Maliar, a deputy defense minister in Ukraine, said Ukrainian soldiers were still holding their ground in "certain industrial and infrastructure facilities" in the southwest corner of Bakhmut. There continued to be "heavy fighting," she said in a brief statement.

The commander of Ukraine's ground forces, Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, said the battle for Bakhmut was not over. "Fighting continues for every meter of territory," he said in a statement. He released a video Saturday afternoon that he said showed Ukrainian Special Forces operating in the city.

The Russian government just after midnight in Moscow released a statement claiming the conquest of the city "had been completed" and attributed the success to "offensive actions by the Wagner assault units" supported by artillery and aviation units.

A statement released by the Kremlin said President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia "congratulates Wagner assault teams as well as all Russian troops," and promised that fighters would be "recommended for the state decorations."

Peter Baker, Andrew E. Kramer and Motoko Rich

HIROSHIMA, Japan — President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine rejected Russia's claim on Sunday to have captured the eastern city of Bakhmut after nearly a year of fighting, as President Biden reaffirmed that Western allies "will not waver" in their support of Kyiv.

Russia's Defense Ministry said early on Sunday that its forces had captured Bakhmut, scene of the deadliest battle of the war, but Ukraine's military has insisted that the fighting there was ongoing — even though Ukrainian troops controlled just a few blocks.

In Hiroshima, Japan, where Mr. Zelensky had met with leaders of the world's wealthiest nations during a three-day summit, he also denied Russia's claims while acknowledging there was little left of the city.

Full control of Bakhmut would be Russia's most successful battlefield advance since last summer, but Ukrainian troops in recent days have broken through Russian defensive lines on the outskirts of the city and controlling it would not necessarily help Moscow toward its larger stated goal of conquering the whole eastern Donbas region.

Earlier, at the conclusion of the Group of 7 summit, Mr. Biden vowed that the major powers would remain united behind Ukraine, saying that Russia's president, Vladimir V. Putin, "will not break our resolve as he thought he would."

Here is what else to know:

Seizing full control of Bakhmut would be a powerful symbolic success for Russia after both sides suffered heavy losses in the monthslong fight. But Ukraine sees an opening to seize the initiative after gains to the north and south of the city, and military analysts say Russia's ability to hold off a broader counteroffensive could be compromised if Moscow continues to send reinforcements to defend the city.

Russia's state media celebrated the purported capture of Bakhmut without explicitly mentioning Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group whose forces led the assault. The omission of Mr. Prigozhin, a frequent critic of Russian's military leadership, underscored efforts by Russia's propaganda machine to hide signs of elite infighting.

Two days after Mr. Biden told other leaders at the G7 summit that he would join the largely European effort to train Ukrainian pilots on how to fly the F-16 fighter jet, the president defended his earlier hesitancy. Mr. Biden, who announced a new $375 million arms package for Ukraine, argued that he had been trying to calibrate which weapons to provide when they are most needed.

On the sidelines of the summit, Mr. Biden met with President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan, praising them for the "courageous work" they have taken in recent months to mend historical rifts. The three countries have common challenges in the region: China and North Korea.