Intense fighting continues in Bakhmut in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, as Russians aim to take full control of the embattled city. Russian forces in the south are reportedly building massive defense lines to protect occupied areas against a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

On Tuesday, the leader of the Wagner Group private military firm, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claimed his forces had seized more than 80 percent of Bakhmut.

A US think tank, the Institute for the Study of War, said on Wednesday that Russians were visually confirmed to control at least 76.5 percent of Bakhmut.

Ukrainian forces said on Thursday that the enemy was trying to occupy the city completely.
The British Defense Ministry said in its intelligence update on Wednesday that Russian forces have built three lines of defense zones across nearly 120 kilometers in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region.

The report points out that over the past weeks, Russian troops have been developing extensive defense lines in the region in preparation for Ukraine's anticipated counteroffensive toward the key city of Melitopol.

Several Ukrainian media organizations have said two videos were posted on social media, purportedly showing the beheading of Ukrainian soldiers by Russian troops. It is not clear when or where the videos were filmed.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has condemned the atrocities. In a video address on Wednesday, he said, "There is something no one in the world can ignore: how easily these beasts kill. The world must see this video, the execution of a Ukrainian captive. This is a video of Russia as it is." He also said, "We are not going to forget anything. Neither are we going to forgive the murderers."

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded to the videos by saying, "First of all, we need to check the authenticity of this awful footage." He added, "In the world of fakes that we inhabit, we need to check the veracity of this footage."