The battle for Bakhmut is rapidly coming to a close, as Russia captured around a third of Ukraine's remaining territory in the city. Ukraine claimed to have made further advances along the Bakhmut flanks, though nothing seems to have changed along the southern flank. Russia's defenses in the Klischiivka area seem to be holding, and with that, Ukraine has little chance of being able to defend their last toehold in Bakhmut. To the north things are more active, but not immediately in the Bakhmut area. Ukraine is continuing to press on Sakko i Vantsetti, and Russia claimed to have killed a Ukrainian commander "near" Soledar. While Soledar is the largest settlement in the area, conventional practice is to normally name the settlement that is closest; this is how tiny places make it into official military reports. It's possible that Russia listed Soledar merely out of convenience, but it certainly suggests that Ukrainian troops are active just to the west of the city. Russia has also allegedly begun to mine the entrances to Soledar in the east territory which is controlled by Russia. If true, it suggests that Russia is preparing for a situation in which they would be forced to abandon Soledar. I am sceptical of this rumor though, as Ukraine's progress in the area has been too slow to necessitate the mining of rear positions at this point in my view.
Reporting came out today suggesting that the United Kingdom has observers in Ukraine close to the front; the second such instance in which western countries, either officially or unofficially, confirmed that it has non-combat operatives working in Ukraine. This has been a very open secret for quite a while, even prior to the Teixeira leaks, however it was rarely discussed. To see two separate stories in a week about it is bizarre, and makes me think it's a signal from the west, perhaps warning Russia to stop their daily bombardment attacks against Kyiv in a failed attempt to destroy the Patriot battery there (which American personnel have at the very least checked for damage). If it was a message telling Russia to knock it off with the attacks on Ukraine's capital, which still boasts a fairly robust foreign diplomatic presence as well as (presumably) a number of foreign operatives, the message either was not received or it went unanswered as Russia launched yet more strikes against Kyiv today.
Ukraine also launched deep strikes today, at Mariupol. The city is a vital logistical hub for Russia, and if a Ukrainian offensive materializes into Zaporizhzhia oblast, disabling logistical hubs that aren't in artillery range will be vital; disrupting Russia's military operations in Mariupol will be key to such an operation.
Somewhat to my surprise, Ukraine's counteroffensive did not start today. And not only that, it likely won't start over the next couple of days. Zelenskyy took a previously unannounced trip to Saudi Arabia to attend an Arab League meeting. Saudi Arabia subsequently joined the list of countries offering to try to mediate between Russia and Ukraine. Rather awkwardly, Syria's Assad attended the Arab League for the first time in quite a while. Assad is a close ally of Russia; Putin was not present, but Zelenskyy was. And Zelenskyy reportedly was considering but ultimately rejected a plan to target Russian troops operating in Syria earlier this year.
It was also announced that Zelenskyy will be visiting the G7 summit in Japan this weekend in person. The G7 used to formerly be the G8, before Russia was booted out of the group, so it will be a bit of an embarrassment for Russia to see Ukraine send a guest delegation to the G7 while Russia is a non participant. It has been reported that the United States will announce another military aid package for Ukraine after Biden and Zelenskyy meet in Japan during the G7 summit.
More importantly though, the United States joined the United Kingdom with offering to teach Ukrainian pilots how to fly F-16s and other western aircraft, and offered to help Ukraine acquire F-16s, although not directly from the United States. Other countries such as Denmark, Portugal, and Belgium have reportedly joined the initiative. What will likely happen is that countries such as Poland will get better fighters from the United States, which will free up their F-16s to transfer to Ukraine. Notably, Jordan also has F-16s, which were not cquired without controversy due to an extremely bloated price tag. Jordan may seek to move past the saga and win some goodwill by finding a way to free them up to transfer to Ukraine; such discussions might have been held on the sidelines of the Arab League summit.
Direct flights between Georgia and Russia resumed today, sparking protests in Georgia. They still have yet to reach the fervor of prior protests, which at times looked as if they could have toppled the government. With flights now occurring, I suspect that after a week or two the news cycle will move onto something else and the protests will as a result subside. However, I doubt that the United States and EU will have forgotten this, as both explicitly and publicly requested that Georgia not resume direct flights after Russia dropped their flight ban and visa restrictions on Georgia. As a country aspiring to join the EU and NATO, Georgia has directly undermined their own long term foreign policy goals in order to appease Russia in the short term.