Russian forces, including the Wagner mercenary fighters, have amped up their shelling on Bakhmut as they look to take it by Tuesday – Russia’s annual Victory Day – Ukraine’s top general leading the defence said.

This comes as Wagner Group’s chief Yevgeny Prigozhin appeared to climb down on his threat to exit from Bakhmut yesterday amid renewed promises of weapons by Moscow.

In an audio recording posted on his Telegram channel, he said: “We have been promised as much ammunition and weapons as we need to continue further operations. We have been promised that everything needed to prevent the enemy from cutting us off [from supplies] will be deployed.”

Ukraine’s air force has said it has destroyed all 35 Iranian-made Shahed drones that Russia had launched overnight at different targets around the country.

“The Russian Federation (also) launched 16 missile strikes last night, in particular on the cities of Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa regions,” the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said in its daily update.

Additionally, 61 airstrikes and 52 attacks from the heavy rocket salvo fire systems were launched over the past day on the positions of Ukrainian forces and populated areas, the Ukrainian military command said.

“Unfortunately, there are dead and wounded civilians, high-rise buildings, private homes and other civilian infrastructure were damaged,” it said.

Wagner mercenary group’s chief Yevgeny Prigozhin had issued an angry warning on Friday that his fighters, who have spearheaded a months-long assault on the eastern Ukraine city, would pull out after being starved of ammunition and suffering “useless and unjustified” losses.

But on Sunday, he took a U-turn on the warning for the Kremlin.

“We have been promised as much ammunition and weapons as we need to continue further operations. We have been promised that everything needed to prevent the enemy from cutting us off [from supplies] will be deployed,” he said in an audio message shared to his press service channel on Telegram.

A food warehouse in the Ukrainian city of Odesa near the Black Sea has been set ablaze in an overnight attack by Russia, officials said.

Several other blasts were also reported in other parts of Ukraine.

Photos of a large structure fully engulfed in flames were shared by Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesperson for the Odesa military administration, in what he said was a Russian attack on a foodstuff warehouse, among others.

Other visuals on social media of the food warehouse under attack showed the entire facility up in flames as emergency workers were engaged in rescue efforts at the spot.

At least five people were injured in Russian strikes on Kyiv, officials in Ukraine said early today as Vladimir Putin’s forces launched a large-scale wave of drones and missiles across the capital and besieged country.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said three people were injured in blasts in Kyiv’s Solomyanskyi district and two others were injured when drone wreckage fell onto the Sviatoshyn district.

Some of the drone wreckage also fell on a runway of the Zhuliany airport, Kyiv’s military administration said.

No fire has been reported from one of two passenger airports but emergency services were working on the site, officials added.

This comes a day before Moscow prepares to march its military forces for the cherished Victory Day holiday marking the defeat of Nazi Germany.

Ukrainian media reported an explosion overnight in the Black Sea city of Odesa.

Air raid alerts were also reported in capital Kyiv, as well as in other regions of the country.

The Independent could not immediately confirm the reports.

Recent weeks have seen Russia resume airstrikes against Ukrainian cities following an attack on a Crimean fuel depot which Moscow blamed on Kyiv.

Ukraine is meanwhile preparing to launch a counteroffensive against Russian forces in occupied territory.

The European Union has proposed sanctions on Chinese companies accused of selling equipment that could be used in weapons to support Russia’s war machine, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

The bloc’s proposal follows a US move to sanction Chinese business for involvement with Russia. Last month, the US put five firms based in mainland China and Hong Kong on its “entity list,” barring them from trading with any US firms without gaining a nearly unobtainable special license.

Beijing protested, calling it an illegal move that endangers global supply chains.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address that nine Ukrainian explosives experts who were engaged in demining were killed in a single Russian attack in the southern Kherson region on Saturday.

“They were … restoring safety for our people,” Mr Zelensky said.

A grassy lane rutted with tire tracks leads to Volodymyr Zaiets’ farm in southern Ukraine. He is careful, driving only within those shallow grooves — veering away might cost him his life in the field dotted with explosive mines (Samya Kullab writes).

Weeds grow tall where rows of sunflowers once bloomed. Zaiets’ land hasn’t been touched since the fall of 2021, when it was last seeded with wheat. Now, it’s a minefield left by retreating Russian forces.

Zaiets eschewed official warnings and demined this patch of land himself, determined not to lose the year’s harvest. He expects that 15 per cent of his 1,600 hectares (4,000 acres) of farmland was salvaged.