Russia-Ukraine war: Kyiv prepares for counterassault

Ukrainian troops are reportedly preparing for a counterattack, after months on the defensive amid Russia's ongoing campaign to capture the eastern town of Bakhmut.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine's top ground forces commander, was cited by the Reuters news agency as saying that the Kremlin-backed Wagner mercenaries were "losing considerable strength" and "running out of steam." The group has been at the forefront of Russia's eastern and southern assaults.

"Very soon, we will take advantage of this opportunity, as we did in the past near Kyiv, Kharkiv, Balakliya, and Kupiansk," he said, listing Ukrainian counteroffensives last year that recaptured swathes of land.

Ukraine's General Staff said in a report on Friday that Russian attacks on the towns of Lyman, Avdiivka, Mariinka and Shakhtarske were all unsuccessful. Moscow's main focus, however, remained Bakhmut.

Russia has been struggling to capture the town for months, stressing the move would be strategic while Western analysts downplay its importance.

Capturing Bakhmut would not only give Russian fighters a rare battlefield gain after months of setbacks but could also rupture Ukraine's supply lines, allowing Moscow's forces to advance toward other Ukrainian strongholds in the eastern Donetsk region.

Here are some of the other notable developments concerning the war in Ukraine on Friday, March 24:

Russian airstrike on homeless shelter kills 3

A Russian airstrike on the city of Kostyantynivka in the eastern Donetsk region hit a homeless shelter, killing three women and injuring two other individuals, Ukraine's emergency service said on Friday.

The deceased women were internally displaced from Bakhmut, Chasiv Yar and Opytne, towns nearby at the center of the conflict.

Lying some 25 kilometers (15 miles) west of Bakhmut, Kostyantynivka is an industrial city which has seen long and bloody fighting since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Kremlin welcomes Danish invitation of Gazprom to salvage Nord Stream object

The Kremlin on Friday welcomed Denmark's decision to invite Russian energy giant Gazprom to help salvage an object discovered next to one of the Nord Stream pipelines, which were sabotaged last September.

"It's certainly positive news when the owner of the pipeline is invited to take part in very important phases of the investigation," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

The Russian-controlled Gazprom owns most of the two Nord Stream pipelines, with the rest of the stakes owned by German, French and Dutch companies.

Peskov said that identifying the object was important, as well as conducting the investigation into the blasts with full transparency. 

Danish authorities announced the discovery of a tubular object of 10 centimeters (3.9 inches) in diameter, protruding some 40 centimeters from the seabed.

Peskov said it was "critically important" to know whether the discovered object was related to the "terrorist act" of sabotaging the pipelines.

The New York Times claimed in a report earlier this month that "pro Ukrainian" groups were behind the attack on the pipelines. Kyiv vehemently denied any involvement. 

Medvedev says Russia may advance as far as Kyiv or Lviv

Russian forces may need to advance as far as Kyiv or Lviv, said Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian president and confidante of President Vladimir Putin.

In an interview with Russia's RIA Novosti on Friday, Medvedev was quoted as saying that Russian troops will go where they need to go "in order to destroy this infection."

"Nothing can be ruled out here," Medvedev said.

Medvedev went on to say that Russia had no plans for entering a direct conflict with NATO. 

He said Moscow was interested in resolving the conflict in Ukraine through talks, but warned that any Ukrainian attempts to take the Crimean peninsula would make Russia resort to "absolutely any weapon" against Kyiv. Russia annexed the peninsula in 2014.

Medvedev, who is now deputy chairman of the country's Security Council, has made increasingly hawkish statements about the invasion of Ukraine.

On Wednesday, he said that any attempt to arrest Vladimir Putin abroad in implementation of the International Criminal Court arrest warrant would be seen as "a declaration of war."

Russian national escapes Italian custody before US extradition

A Russian national escaped house arrest in Milan, Italy, before he was due to be extradited to the US on charges of violating sanctions.

Artem Uss, the son of the governor of Russia's Krasnoyarsk Krai region in Siberia, was arrested in October last year as he prepared to board an Istanbul-bound flight.

He was later charged by US prosecutors with orchestrating a scheme to unlawfully obtain US military technology and Venezuelan-sanctioned oil.

Uss broke his court-ordered electronic bracelet and fled, two days after a judge granted his US extradition order, Italian media reported.