The ongoing battle for Bakhmut: Updates and analysis.

The Institute for the Study of War has released a retrospective on the battle for Bakhmut, describing it as an "overly-ambitious operational effort" that cost tens of thousands of Russian casualties. The goal to seize Bakhmut was initially intended to facilitate Russian offensives to encircle large Ukrainian forces in the east and specifically to take the large and fortified cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk from multiple directions. The head of Russia's Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced his mercenaries would begin handing over their positions in Bakhmut to the Russian Ministry of Defence after claiming complete control of the embattled city.