Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 322 of the invasion

The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has claimed his forces have completed the takeover of the Ukrainian town of Soledar, which if confirmed would mark Moscow’s first major battlefield success since last summer. “Wagner units have taken the whole territory of Soledar under control,” said Yevgeny Prigozhin in an audio message released on his Telegram channel late on Tuesday. Soledar, home to huge salt mines, has symbolic, military and commercial value for Russia.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy thanked the “heroic” defenders of Soledar but gave no update on the military situation in his nightly address on Tuesday.

Russian forces trained tank, mortar and artillery fire on Avdiivka, Ukraine’s armed forces said, a second focus for Russia south of Bakhmut and not far from the city of Donetsk, held by Russian proxies since 2014.

Russia’s artillery fire in Ukraine has gone down dramatically from its wartime high, in some places by as much as 75%, according to US and Ukrainian officials. The drop in shelling is further evidence of Russia’s increasingly weak position on the battlefield nearly a year into its invasion, officials have told CNN. The officials did not give a clear or single explanation behind the striking decline in artillery fire.

Western officials have warned that Ukraine will not be able to take back a significant amount of territory from Russia without an increase in military capability, including tanks and armoured vehicles. Russian and Ukrainian forces are currently too closely matched for the Ukrainians to be able to mount a major offensive, a western official said on Tuesday. They said a reported Ukrainian call for 300 tanks was “not an unreasonable number” to create the force mass needed for them to go on the attack.

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday said his government would purchase a US air defence system to donate to Ukraine. The US-built air defence system was worth C$406m (US$302m), defence minister Anita Anand said. “Canada will continue to stand with the Ukrainian people as they fight against Russia’s illegal and unjustifiable invasion,” Anand said.

Ukrainian troops are set to begin training on the Patriot missile system in the US as soon as next week, US officials said. The training programme will take place at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, with the programme expected to take “several months”, one said. During Zelenskiy’s visit to the US in December, Joe Biden announced $1.85bn (£1.54bn) in new military assistance to Kyiv, including the delivery of a Patriot missile battery system. The US is also reportedly considering sending Stryker armoured combat vehicles to Ukraine. The move could be announced next week, but no final decision has been made, Politico reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter.

Russia has appointed Colonel-General Alexander Lapin as chief of staff of the country’s ground forces, state-owned news agency TASS reported, despite criticism from hawks over his performance in Ukraine.

The family of one of two British men missing in Ukraine have said they are “very worried and concerned” about his health. Chris Parry, 28, was last seen on Friday with fellow Briton Andrew Bagshaw, 48, heading to the town of Soledar in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine. The men had been working as volunteers helping people evacuate from the frontline.

Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report