Here is the situation as it stands on Sunday, March 5, 2023:

Fighting

• Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu paid a rare visit to Russia’s forces deployed in Ukraine, his ministry said.
• Russian artillery pounded the last routes out of Bakhmut, aiming to completely encircle the besieged Ukrainian city and score Moscow’s first major victory in half a year after the bloodiest fighting of the war.
• Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia’s Wagner mercenary force, said in a published video that Bakhmut was “practically surrounded” by his forces and Kyiv’s forces had only one road out left.
• Prigozhin published a video showing what he said were coffins containing bodies of Ukrainian soldiers being repatriated to territory held by Kyiv.

Diplomacy

• German defence contractor Rheinmetall is in negotiations about building a tank factory in Ukraine, the newspaper Rheinische Post reported, citing an interview with CEO Armin Papperger.
• In addition to Leopard 2 tanks, German armaments company Rheinmetall wants to buy 96 Leopard 1 tanks from Swiss defence firm Ruag to send to Ukraine, the Swiss newspaper Tages- Anzeiger reported.
• The United States’s newly announced $400m military aid package for Ukraine primarily comprises ammunition, but for the first time, it will also include tactical bridges to move tanks and armoured vehicles.
• US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised to keep imposing costs on Russia for its war in Ukraine.
• Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov accused the US of hypocrisy after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia cannot be allowed to wage war in Ukraine with impunity.