The ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia's Wagner Group.

Ukrainian soldiers fighting outside Bakhmut have reported that Russian mercenaries, including convicts recruited directly from prisons, have withdrawn and been replaced by regular Russian troops. This could create vulnerabilities at other locations along the front, which stretches hundreds of miles, weaknesses that Ukraine might try to exploit as it seeks to snatch back occupied territory in a counteroffensive that could begin at any moment. Ukrainian officials have insisted that they still have a small foothold within the Bakhmut city limits and that they are making gains on the flanks of the city, which they said was part of a plan for a “semi-encirclement.”