News Snapshot:
There was confusion over the situation in Bakhmut, scene of the war’s bloodiest battles. Ukraine said its forces still had a foothold in the ruined eastern city and were attempting to encircle it after Moscow claimed to have captured it. Neither claim could be independently verified. Russian president Vladimir Putin congratulated Wagner and Russian regular forces on “the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk [the city’s Soviet-era name]” after Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin posed among the wreckage and said his mercenary group controlled the entire city. However, speaking at the G7 summit in Hiroshima on Sunday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr...