Wagner accuses Russia of lying about Bakhmut in Ukraine.

The head of Russia's private Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, accused Moscow's military leadership of downplaying the situation around the embattled Ukrainian town of Bakhmut, saying that "the flanks are failing, the front is collapsing" in that area. Ukraine said on Friday that its forces had made significant advances around the city of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region, which has been the epicenter of fighting with Russia for months. Meanwhile, China will send a special envoy to Ukraine, Russia and other European nations from Monday to discuss a "political settlement" to the war in Ukraine.