Ukrainian officials claim Russian forces are losing hundreds of men a day and sustaining heavy losses in 3 hotspots along the front lines

Ukrainian officials say Russian forces have kept up their bombardments across the Donetsk region, with more than 200 strikes against the Bakhmut area alone in the past 24 hours — but they claim the Russians are losing hundreds of men a day across the front lines.

The eastern city of Bakhmut remains "the focus of the enemy's main attack," according to Serhii Cherevatyi, the spokesman for the Eastern Grouping of the armed forces.

Cherevatyi said it was difficult to tell whether the intensity of Russian attacks around Bakhmut was waning because of factors such as weather, the rotation of units or reserves being brought forward by the Russians.

However, he said Russian tactics have remained the same with small tactical groups "trying to deplete our defenses." He said soldiers from the Wagner mercenary group are near Bakhmut, with Russian troops providing reinforcements where necessary.

Cherevatyi drew a distinction between the battle for Bakhmut and fighting elsewhere. He said further north, Wagner was less in evidence around Lyman and Kupyansk, where regular Russian forces, supported by the Luhansk militia, had made more than 400 attacks over the past day.

“The main task now is to withstand, to deplete the enemy's forces, while units are being trained both in Ukraine and abroad, equipped with new defense equipment, and coordinated,” Cherevatyi said.

In and around the town of Avdiivka, in the Donetsk region, intense Russian bombardments and airstrikes continue against Ukrainian defenses.

But he said many of the civilians were unwilling to leave, especially the elderly, and there has been no electricity in the city since May last year.

Dmytrashkivskyi said the Russians were trying to bypass the town “and these attacks are constantly accompanied by shelling. Yesterday the enemy managed 26 attacks and suffered quite significant losses. More than 100 people were killed and more than 240 wounded,” he claimed. “During the day, they attack with the help of aircraft, artillery and manpower. They are suffering heavy losses in manpower and equipment.”

The estimated cost of reconstruction efforts in Ukraine after Russia's invasion has reached $411 billion, according to an updated assessment by the World Bank.

This amounts to 2.6 times the country’s estimated GDP in 2022. It includes an estimated $135 billion of direct damage — mainly to the housing, transportation, energy, commerce and industry sectors, according to the bank. The majority of damage is concentrated in frontline eastern regions, including Donetsk, Kharkiv and Luhansk. 

The updated cost estimate covers damage incurred in the one-year period after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, 2022. It marks an increase from the bank's $349 billion estimate in June 2022.

The reconstruction cost is a joint assessment made by Ukraine's government, the World Bank Group, the European Commission and the United Nations.

Dmitry Medvedev attends a military parade on Victory Day in Red Square, Moscow, Russia, on May 9. (Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

Any arrest of Vladimir Putin overseas under the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) warrant for the Russian President would mean "a declaration of war against Russia," Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday, according to state-run news agency Tass.

Responding to German Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann’s remark that Berlin would have to implement the ICC decision and arrest the Russian President if he arrived in Germany, Medvedev said: "Does he even realize that it would be a casus belli, a declaration of war? "

Medvedev also reiterated that the ICC’s decision would have a detrimental impact on Moscow’s relations with the West.

"Our relations with the Western world are already poor; they are perhaps at their worst ever. Even when Churchill delivered his Iron Curtain speech, our relationship was better. And all of a sudden, they make such a move against our head of state," Medvedev said, according to Tass.

Hungary said Thursday it would not arrest Putin if he entered the country, despite the ICC issuing an arrest warrant for him last week, accusing him of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, said that even though Hungary is a signatory to the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the ICC, and ratified it in 2001, arresting Putin would have no basis in Hungarian law.

Pedro Sanchez attends the second session of the motion of censure, at the Congress of Deputies, in Madrid, Spain, on March 22. (Eduardo Parra/Europa Press/Getty Images)

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez says he will discuss Russia’s war on Ukraine with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during a state visit to China next week.

Sánchez said he will address three topics with Xi:

Sanchez said he would specifically address the issues of peace, on Kyiv’s terms, and Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said it has no information to provide regarding the matter.

The Spanish prime minister said he was thankful for President Xi’s invitation and referred to China as “a global actor of the first order,” adding it was important to hear Beijing’s view.

Beijing has attempted to position itself as a peace broker in the conflict despite its growing relationship with Russia. Xi departed Moscow on Wednesday after pledging to deepen ties with President Vladimir Putin during a three-day state visit. Their talks failed to achieve a breakthrough on Ukraine.

Ukrainian soldiers ride atop a tank on the front line in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine on Wednesday, March 22. (Libkos/AP)

Russian forces are depleted in Bakhmut and a Ukrainian counteroffensive could soon be launched, one of Kyiv’s top generals has said, raising the prospect of an unlikely turnaround in the besieged city.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of Ukraine’s land forces, said on his Telegram channel Thursday that “[Russians] are losing significant forces [in Bakhmut] and are running out of energy.”

His comments come days after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky made a surprise trip to the front lines of the Donetsk region, and will raise hopes in the West that Kyiv’s contentious decision to keep troops in Bakhmut will pay dividends.

Russian troops have launched more than 200 strikes on the area in the past 24 hours alone but are losing hundreds of men each day in their efforts, the spokesman for the Eastern Grouping of the armed forces said later on Thursday. CNN is unable to verify those figures.

Read more here.

William, Prince of Wales, left, meets with Poland's President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw, Poland, on March 23. (Ian Vogler/Reuters)

A meeting between Britain's Prince William and Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw focused on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and its impact on Polish society, a spokesperson for the Prince of Wales said in a statement.

“They discussed the importance of the need for ongoing support to Ukraine and its people.”

Some context: Prince William made a rare, unannounced trip to Poland on Wednesday, meeting British and Polish troops stationed near the Ukrainian-Polish border and praising their “cooperation in support of the people of Ukraine and their freedom.”

The Prince of Wales first visited the 3rd Brigade Territorial Defense Force base in Rzeszów, where he met Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak and viewed a display of military equipment.