Moscow loses at least 130 tanks in Vuhledar, report says; Putin preparing to meet China’s Xi in Moscow – as it happened

Russia loses at least 130 tanks and APCs in Vuhledar in 'biggest tank battle in Ukraine war' – report Russia has lost at least 130 tanks and armoured personnel carriers in a three-week battle in the town of Vuhledar in southern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials. Ukrainian officials said the “epic” fight on a plain near Vuhledar produced the biggest tank battle of the war so far and a stinging setback for the Russians, the New York Times reports. Both sides sent tanks into the fray, “with the Russians thrusting forward in columns and the Ukrainians manoeuvring defensively, firing from a distance or from hiding places as Russian columns came into their sights”, the paper writes. When it was over, not only had Russia failed to capture Vuhledar, but it also had made the same mistake that cost Moscow hundreds of tanks earlier in the war: advancing columns into ambushes. The remains of the Russian tanks, blown up on mines, hit with artillery or destroyed by anti-tank missiles, now litter farm fields all about the coal mining town, according to Ukrainian military drone footage. Russian troops also suffered a lack of experienced tank commanders in Vuhledar, and many of the fighters consisted of newly conscripted soldiers who had not been trained in Ukraine’s tactics for ambushing columns, the paper says. Ambushes have been Ukraine’s signature tactic against Russian armoured columns since the early days of the war. By last week, Russia had lost so many machines to sustained armoured assaults that they had changed tactics and resorted only to infantry attacks, Ukrainian commanders said. Updated at 18.43 GMT

Closing summary

It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:

• Russia has lost at least 130 tanks and armoured personnel carriers in a three-week battle in the town of Vuhledar in southern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials. Ukrainian officials said the “epic” fight on a plain near Vuhledar produced the biggest tank battle of the war so far and a stinging setback for the Russians, the New York Times reported.

• The Ukrainian military may decide to withdraw its forces from the key stronghold of Bakhmut, an adviser to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said. “Our military is obviously going to weigh all of the options. So far, they’ve held the city, but if need be, they will strategically pull back,” Alexander Rodnyansky, an economic adviser to Zelenskiy, told CNN. “We’re not going to sacrifice all of our people just for nothing.”

• But Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary force, said Ukrainian forces were putting up “furious resistance” against Moscow’s attempt to seize Bakhmut. Prigozhin said he so far had seen no signs of a Ukrainian withdrawal from the city. The battle for Bakhmut, in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance as defenders hold out against relentless shelling and waves of Russian troops taking heavy casualties in a months-long campaign to capture it.

• Russia’s defence ministry has said its forces repelled what it described as a major Ukrainian drone attack on Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014. “Six Ukrainian attack drones were shot down by air defence systems. Another four Ukrainian drones were disabled by electronic warfare,” the ministry said.

• Vladimir Putin has said he is preparing for a visit to Moscow by China’s president, Xi Jinping, Russian state media reported. The Russian leader said he planned to show the Chinese delegation the Moscow metro’s Bolshaya Koltsevaya line (Big Circle line) during their visit to the Russian capital.

• The leaders of China and Belarus – Xi Jinping and Alexander Lukashenko – have issued a joint statement calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine and negotiations to bring about a political settlement to the conflict. The joint call amounted to an endorsement of Beijing’s peace plan issued last week that demanded respect of national sovereignty and “territorial integrity”. The 12-point paper did not say what would happen to the regions Russia has occupied since the invasion.

• Finland’s parliament has overwhelmingly approved legislation allowing the country to join Nato. Finnish MPs voted 184 in favour of accepting the Nato treaties, with seven against and one abstaining, increasing the chances of it becoming a member of the transatlantic defensive alliance before its Nordic neighbour Sweden.

• Hungary’s president, Katalin Novák, urged lawmakers on Wednesday to ratify Finland and Sweden’s Nato entry “as soon as possible”. “It is a complex decision, with serious consequences, so careful consideration is necessary,” Novák said on Facebook. Hungary and Turkey are so far the only two Nato countries not to ratify their admission. Talks between Turkey, Sweden and Finland resume in Brussels on 9 March.

• Germany will ramp up ammunition production as well as ensure it has enough replacement parts and repairs capacity in its defence industry to better support Ukraine, the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has said. The German leader vowed on Friday to support Ukraine “as strongly and as long as necessary”, adding that German aid to Ukraine, for financial and humanitarian support as well as weapons, had totalled more than €14bn (£12.4bn) so far.

• Russia would only agree to extend the Black Sea grain deal if the interests of its agricultural producers were taken into account, Russia’s foreign ministry has said. The deal, brokered by the UN and Turkey, allows safe exports from Ukrainian ports and is up for renewal this month.

• Russia brought new legal amendments to parliament on Wednesday that further strengthen the country’s censorship laws, envisaging up to 15 years in jail for discrediting the armed forces or voluntary military organisations such as the Wagner group.

• A 12-year-old Russian girl has been sent to an orphanage and her father beaten up and arrested by authorities after she drew an anti-war picture in an art class, according to reports. Alexei Moskalev, a single father from the eastern Tula region, was reportedly charged with discrediting the military in December after his daughter, Masha, protested against the war at school and online.

• A government official in Poland has said Russia was behind a hacking attack that blocked users’ access to the online tax filing system. “Russians are responsible for yesterday’s attack, it must be made clear. We have information that makes it very likely that this was the adversary,” the official said.

That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, and the Russia-Ukraine war live blog today. Thank you for following. We’ll be back tomorrow.

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