The head of the Russian private military contractor Wagner claimed Thursday that his forces have started pulling out of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, and handing over control to the Russian military, days after he said Wagner troops had captured the ruined city.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner’s millionaire owner with longtime links to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said in a video published on Telegram that the handover would be completed by June 1. There was no immediate comment from the Russian defense ministry.

The Russian military attacked police officers using drones in Kherson and Beryslav, Kherson region, over the past day. Officers were injured.

"The Russian military once again attacked police officers with the help of drones," the Kherson region police reported.

Russian aircraft struck an enterprise located in a border district in Chernihiv region.

The Operational Command North reported this on Telegram, according to Ukrinform.

Russia has "intensified preparations" for the forced evacuation of civilians in occupied regions of southern Ukraine to Crimea at the end of the month, Ukraine's military has claimed.

In a Telegram post, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said Russian-installed officials had organised a "survey of the local population" in the cities of Melitopol, in Zaporizhzhia, and Skadovsk in Kherson. 
It claimed the "presence of a Russian passport, registration and level of education" were checked as part of the survey.

Russian forces have made further gains in embattled Bakhmut and now Ukraine's supply route is "severely threatened", according to British intelligence. 
Since late March, Russia's advance had mostly stalled but now it has "likely advanced into the town centre and seized the west bank of the Bakhmuta River", the UK defence ministry said in its latest update. 
As a result, Ukraine's key supply route to the west of the town is under threat, which could hamper their fighting efforts. 

Bakhmut, a city in the east of Ukraine, has become the site of fierce fighting for several months, with both sides losing so many troops it has been described as a "meat grinder". 

Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed his Belarussian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko to Moscow today to begin two days of talks, but in their opening remarks both men avoided mentioning Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last week the two leaders would discuss Mr Lukashenko's call for an immediate ceasefire.

A pair of popular Russia-based LGBT bloggers have been arrested in Russia on charges of violating the country’s law outlawing gay “propaganda,” their lawyer said Wednesday.

Re-elected UEFA chief Aleksander Ceferin has said today it will be "very difficult" to lift Russia's suspension from European competitions until the war in Ukraine ended. 

The ban was put in place in February last year. 

Russia’s additional oil and gas revenues will fall short 113.6 billion rubles ($1.4 billion) below expectations in April, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained a married couple in the country’s tank manufacturing hub on suspicion of sharing details of a defense enterprise with Ukraine, state media reported Tuesday.