people were injured in that part of the country. the city of mykolaiv was also hit and at least three people also injured. ukraine says it has made some gains around the city of bakhmut, a key target for russian forces in the east of the country. yesterday, the russian defence ministry seemed to acknowledge that ukrainian forces have made some gains around bakhmut. and it also said that russian forces had abandoned some positions. there was some criticism from the head of the wagner group, yevgeny prigozhin, whose group has been leading the russian efforts to seize bakhmut. he said that what had happened near bakhmut was actually a rout. hugo bachega with the latest there from kyiv. because of the russian invasion, ukraine has been unable to host the eurovision song contest, despite winning the competition last year. the uk is holding the contest on ukraine s behalf.
the kidnapping of ukrainian children, the need to step up the fight against pro kremlin fake news and ukrainejoining the european union. after the meeting, president zelensky said i want to thank italy and i d like to hog each italian one by one for their support that they have offered to ukraine. we share common values. hug. italy has already had strong ties with moscow and since russia invaded ukraine, italy has become a haven for pro kremlin disinformation and propaganda. zelensky has pleaded for more weapons from the west time and time again and in fact, the uk a few days ago agreed to send missiles to ukraine, you have germany, the uk, the us all sending tanks to ukraine. italy is also sending weapons and money to support kyiv, there are
people in italy was in a coalition government who are not so keen on that a clear example is silvio berlusconi, leader of the centre right political party is currently in government and he has and is a long time friend of vladimir putin, the two of them have gone on holiday together, they have exchanged birthday present and quite a delicate diplomatic situation for the president to do with today. we are expecting a press conference with mr zelensky and the prime minister of italy a bit later on and we will bring you that as soon as we get it. mr zelensky. mr zelensky s visit to italy comes as russia has carried out a new wave of air strikes on kyiv and other cities overnight. the authorities say the military intercepted all drones directed at the capital. but in the southern city
of mykolaiv, three people were injured in attacks. of mykolaiv, three people and in the western city of khmelnytsky, critical infrastructure as well as residential and government buildings were hit. the latest russian strikes come as ukrainian forces say they have made progress near the eastern city of bakhmut. 0ur correspondent hugo bachega is in kyiv. russia carried out another wave of air strikes on ukrainian cities overnight. and at the ukrainian military says that 21 drones were fired by russia. iranian made drones that russia has been using to attack ukrainian towns and cities. one of the targets was the region in the west of the country where civilian infrastructure was hit. the city of khmelnytsky. this is a transport hub in the west of ukraine. the authorities say at least 11
bottom of the black sea, and it would be extremely hard for russia to recuperate anything of value. so i think the biggest issue here is that it shows that mistakes or provocations can happen very easily this is a hot zone, and we are in a situation where wars can be unpredish unprediblt unpredictable you don t know what can lead to an escalation. people are looking at this drone incident, be careful you don t want things to escalate for a reason like this. no. meanwhile, the new york times reports the u.s. is promising to fully and quickly give ukraine the weapons it needs for a spring counteroffensive against russia. speaking at a virtual meeting with some 50 countries, defense secretary lloyd austin pledged to support kyiv in the fight ahead. ukraine has been burning through its arsenal to fend off russia s invasion we hear the same thing coming