New developments:
- Ukraine’s generals claim some of their biggest battlefield victories in month. But President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine's long-awaited counteroffensive against Russia's invasion force had yet to start.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday said he has approved a plan to reform the nation’s criminal and law enforcement systems, essential to securing membership in the European Union.
- British Defense Ministry says Russia likely added up to 10,000 prisoners to those recruited to fight in Ukraine.
Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said on Telegram that Ukrainian forces advances 2 kilometers in the city area without ceding any ground to the Russians.
Malyar at the same time said claims by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Kremlin-connected chief of the Wagner mercenary group that has been at the forefront of Moscow's months-long assault on Bakhmut, that his fighters did not receive enough ammunition were not true and were meant to justify Russian losses in Bakhmut.
"The enemy gives false information about the lack of weapons, probably aimed at justifying the real situation. And the real situation this week is that despite the presence of weapons the enemy failed to materialize their plans, the enemy suffered great losses of manpower, and our defenders advanced 2 kilometers in the direction of Bakhmut; we did not lose a single position in Bakhmut this week," Malyar wrote.
In a letter published by press service on May 12, Prigozhin urged Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to come and personally "assess the situation" in Bakhmut. Prigozhin claimed Wagner controls 95 percent of Bakhmut but that flanks under the control of Russian armed forces had been "successfully counterattacked" by Ukrainian forces.
On the battlefield, Ukrainian defenders repelled 44 Russian attacks over the past 24 hours in Bakhmut, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported earlier on May 12, adding that Moscow's forces continued pounding the Bakhmut-Avdiyivka-Maryinka front line, which has seen the fiercest fighting over the past several months.
Russia on May 11 had denied the reports of Ukrainian advances in several areas, including Bakhmut, although such reports came from pro-Moscow military bloggers and from Prigozhin himself, who went so far as to claim on May 11 that Ukraine's counteroffensive was already under way.
The Russian Defense Ministry denied the reports, saying the "overall situation in the area of the special military operation is under control," while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov put on an optimistic face, saying Moscow's special military operation against Ukraine -- the term used by Russia to refer to its large-scale invasion -- is "very difficult" but certain goals have been achieved.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on May 11 said in an interview with European broadcasters that Kyiv is delaying the start of the counteroffensive because it lacks enough Western weapons to succeed without suffering too many casualties.
Zelenskiy said it's possible that "we can go forward and be successful," the BBC reported.
"But we'd lose a lot of people. I think that's unacceptable," he was quoted as saying. "So we need to wait. We still need a bit more time.... In terms of equipment, not everything has arrived yet."
Britain Shipping Long-Range Missiles to Kyiv
Ukraine's preparations for a counteroffensive received an important boost on May 11 when Britain announced it was supplying long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine, giving Kyiv the capability to hit Russian troops well behind front lines.
Defense Minister Ben Wallace confirmed to British lawmakers that the the United Kingdom will donate Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine.
"The use of Storm Shadow will allow Ukraine to push back Russian forces based within Ukrainian sovereign territory," he added without specifying how many are being delivered.
Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of more than 250 kilometers, give Ukraine the capacity to strike well behind Russian front lines and as far as Moscow-occupied Crimea.
British media reports said Kyiv had promised not to use the missiles to strike inside Russia's territory.
The Kremlin threatened "appropriate" measures to respond to London's move.
"It will demand an appropriate response from our military that will definitely make the decisions required in military terms," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.