The ISW made the assessment in its latest report on the war in Ukraine, published on Thursday night.
Wagner waiting for reinforcements?
The US experts said: “The Wagner Group’s offensive operation in eastern Bakhmut appears to have entered a temporary tactical pause and it remains unclear if Wagner fighters will retain their operational preponderance in future Russian offensives in the city.”
According to the ISW, “the arrival of an increased number of conventional Russian forces to the area may suggest that Russian forces intend to offset the possible culmination of Wagner's offensive operations in Bakhmut with new conventional troops.”
The US think tank observed that “Wagner Group fighters may also be conducting a temporary tactical pause to wait for these conventional Russian reinforcements and replenish themselves in preparation for costly operations within central Bakhmut.”
Death toll from Russian strikes on Ukraine rises: UK
The death toll from Russia’s massive strikes against targets across Ukraine on Thursday now stands at 11, according to Britain’s Ministry of Defence.
In their latest intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine, published on Friday, the UK officials wrote: "On 9 March 2023, Russia conducted a wave of at least 80 long-range strikes against Ukrainian critical infrastructure."
They added: "Russia deployed cruise missiles, air defence missiles in a surface-surface role, Iranian one way attack, uncrewed aerial vehicles, and an unusually large number of hypersonic air-launched ballistic missiles during the attack."
The UK Ministry of Defence added: “This was the first major wave of long-range strikes since 16 February 2023 and likely one of the largest since December 2022. Ukrainian officials reported at least 11 civilians killed.”
According to Ukraine’s state broadcaster Suspilne, heat supply was being restored in the capital Kyiv after Thursday’s shelling.
As of Friday morning, 30 percent of the homes remained without heating, local officials reported.
Meanwhile, the entire northeastern Kharkiv region, “except for a few communities, has already recovered power,” Suspilne said, adding that "there may be outages during the day."
Russian forces hit Ukraine’s Nikopol district with rockets, artillery
Overnight, Russian forces struck the Nikopol district of Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region with rockets and artillery, according to news reports.
"As a result of one of the hits, there was significant destruction of the energy facility, three settlements were left without electricity,” but there were "no victims,” Suspilne reported on Friday, as quoted by the UK’s The Guardian newspaper.
Friday is day 380 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, understandingwar.org, The UK Ministry of Defence, The Guardian