🔴 Live: Ukraine claims advances of up to 2 kilometres around embattled Bakhmut

1:25pm: Russia staves off Ukrainian advances along 95 km front near Bakhmut

Russia said Friday it had repelled Ukrainian attacks along a 95-kilometre (60 mile) stretch of front near the symbolic city of Bakhmut, as an anticipated Ukrainian offensive looms.

“In the tactical direction of Soledar, the enemy yesterday carried out offensive operations along the entire line of contact, which is more than 95 kilometres long,” the defence ministry said, adding that Ukraine had deployed “more than 1,000 military personnel and up to 40 tanks”.

“All the attacks of the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have been repelled,” the defence ministry added. 

1:07pm: Zelensky to meet Italian president in Rome on Saturday

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected in Rome on Saturday for talks with his Italian counterpart, an official told AFP Friday, with a meeting with Pope Francis also possible.

“We confirm that this meeting will take place tomorrow,” a spokesman for Italian President Sergio Mattarella said when asked about reports of a meeting with Zelensky.

It would be the first visit by Zelensky to EU and NATO member Italy since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

11:58am: Black Sea grain deal renewal issue remains unresolved, Kremlin says

The Kremlin said on Friday that there was nothing new to report after talks on possible renewal of the Black Sea grain deal in Istanbul and that a potential conversation between the leaders of Turkey and Russia would not help clinch an agreement.

In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that only full implementation of the deal would facilitate its renewal.

Turkey’s Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said earlier on Friday that parties to the Black Sea grain pact were nearing a deal to extend it.

10:52am: Ukraine’s Zelensky banned from adressing Eurovision contest

This weekend’s Eurovision Song Contest will have Ukrainian flags, Ukrainian musicians and Ukrainian fans – but not the country’s wartime leader.

Organisers rejected a request from President Volodymyr Zelensky to make a video address to the final of the pan-continental music competition on Saturday. He was expected to urge the world continue its support for Ukraine’s fight to repel Russian invasion.

The European Broadcasting Union, which runs Eurovision, said that letting Zelensky participate would breach “the nonpolitical nature of the event”.

9:45am: China to send special envoy to Ukraine, Russia

China will send a special envoy to Ukraine, Russia and other European nations from Monday, Beijing said on Friday, to discuss a “political settlement” to the war in Ukraine.

“From May 15, Ambassador Li Hui, special representative of the Chinese government for Eurasian Affairs, will visit Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany and Russia to communicate with all parties on the political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis,” foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a regular press conference.

9:28am: Ukraine claims it has advanced two kilometres in Bakhmut

Ukraine said Friday that its forces had made significant advances around the embattled city of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region, which has been the epicentre of fighting with Russia for months.

“The enemy has suffered great losses of manpower. Our defence forces advanced two kilometres (around one mile) near Bakhmut. We did not lose a single position in Bakhmut this week,” Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar said in a statement on social media.

01:30am: Russia denies reports of Ukrainian breakthroughs along front lines

Russia’s defence ministry on Thursday denied reports that Ukrainian forces had broken through in various places along the front lines and said the military situation was under control.

Moscow reacted after Russian military bloggers, writing on the Telegram messaging app, reported what they said were Ukrainian advances north and south of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, with some suggesting a long-awaited counteroffensive by pro-Kyiv forces had started.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had earlier said the offensive had yet to start.

“Statements circulated by individual Telegram channels about ‘defence breakthroughs’ that took place in different areas along the line of military contact do not correspond to reality,” the Russian defence ministry said in a Telegram post.

“The overall situation in the area of the special military operation is under control,” it said in a statement, using the Kremlin’s description of the war in Ukraine.

The fact the Russian ministry felt obliged to release the statement reflects what Moscow acknowledges is a “very difficult” military operation.

9:55pm: Pope-Zelensky meeting ‘a possibility’, Vatican official says

Pope Francis could meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Vatican this weekend, a Vatican official has told the Associated Press.

Francis has repeatedly called for an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine and expressed solidarity with the “martyred” Ukrainian people. Recently he revealed a secret peace “mission” was under way but provided no details.

Word of the possible meeting Saturday in Rome followed news, confirmed last week by Berlin police, that Zelensky was expected in Germany starting Saturday evening.

Italian media, citing unnamed sources, reported Thursday that Zelensky might be in Rome earlier that day to meet with Premier Giorgia Meloni and the pope.

A Vatican official said a pope-Zelensky audience Saturday “is a possibility”. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the visit was not confirmed.

7:08pm: South Africa hits back over ‘disappointing’ US charge of supplying arms to Russia

South Africa slammed remarks Thursday by the US ambassador in Pretoria, who accused the country of having covertly provided arms to Russia despite its professed neutrality in the Ukraine war. 

“The Ambassador’s remarks undermine the spirit of co-operation and partnership” between the two countries, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesman Vincent Magwenya said in a statement, adding it was “disappointing” that the envoy had “adopted a counter-productive public posture”.

6:15pm: AFP holds minute of silence for journalist killed in Ukraine

Journalists and staff of Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Paris and across the world have held a minute of silence to remember their colleague Arman Soldin who was killed earlier this week in Ukraine.

Soldin, AFP’s video coordinator in Ukraine, was killed on Tuesday when an AFP team came under fire by Grad rockets while they were with a group of Ukrainian soldiers near Bakhmut, the epicentre of the fighting for months.

“Arman represented the very best of AFP,” the agency’s global news director Phil Chetwynd told staff ahead of the minute of silence at midday GMT.

Hundreds of AFP staff observed the minute of silence at Paris headquarters and from bureaux around the world via video conference.

• Key developments from Thursday, May 12:

Britain on Thursday became the first country to begin supplying Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles, which will allow Kyiv’s forces to hit Russian troops and supply dumps deep behind the front lines.

Meanwhile Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country’s military needed more time to prepare an anticipated counteroffensive aimed at opening a new chapter in the war.

Officials from Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations on Thursday discussed recent UN proposals on a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine grain, which Moscow has threatened to quit on May 18 over obstacles to its own grain and fertiliser exports.

Read yesterday’s live blog to see how the day’s events unfolded

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)