Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group, said on Friday he had thanked the Russian government for a “heroic” increase in production of ammunition, but he was still worried about shortages for his fighters and the Russian army as a whole.

US thinktank the Institute for the Study of War had said in its daily update that Wagner appears to be taking a “tactical pause” in Bakhmut. The ISW believes that Wagner is waiting for until enough reinforcements of conventional Russian troops have arrived before taking a backseat in the fierce battle.

Oleh Synyehubov, governor of Kharkiv, has said the energy situation is difficult following Russia’s barrage of attacks on Thursday. In a message on Telegram, he said “the energy system has suffered significant damage. Nevertheless, critical infrastructure has already been restored in the city, and water supply has been almost completely restored”. However, public transport remains closed.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said the war in Ukraine will end at the negotiating table. Sunak said he would support president Volodymyr Zelensky to be in the “best possible place to have those talks”.

At least 6 of the dead were killed in a strike on a residential area in the western Lviv region, 700km from the frontline, Ukrainian emergency services said. 3 buildings were destroyed by fire after the missile attack and rescue workers were combing through rubble looking for more possible victims.

Ukrainian authorities insist they will continue to try to hold Bakhmut, despite suffering an estimated 100-200 casualties a day. Ukraine’s national security chief, Oleksiy Danilov, has said that one Ukrainian is killed for every 7 Russians, and claimed that Ukrainian soldiers are killing as many as 1,100 Russians a day. Western officials have estimated Russian casualties in Bakhmut at 20,000-30,000.