Russian forces have probably conducted probing attacks near the Ukrainian cities of Orikhiv in the Zaporizhzhia region and Vuhledar in the Donetsk region, but were unlikely to have achieved “substantive advances,” Britain said in a regular intelligence update on Friday.

The head of the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region said on Wednesday that units of the Wagner contract militia were advancing in the town of Bakhmut.

Russia increases shelling in regions outside Ukraine’s Donbas

According to a senior Ukrainian official, fighting in Bakhmut and in Vuhledar was growing fiercer.