Battles have intensified on the southern and eastern battlefronts between the Russian and Ukrainian armies, especially on the Pakhmut front, where Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said he seeks to replace his forces with Chechen military units, as the dispute between him and the Russian Defense Ministry continues to erupt over the lack of ammunition.

Prigozhin said – in a letter addressed to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu – "I ask you to issue a combat order before midnight on the tenth of May (current) to transfer the positions of the Wagner Group to the units of the Akhmat (Chechen) battalion in and around Bakhmaut."

Western equipment, vehicles, weapons and drones are increasingly reaching the Pakhmut front, he said, noting – in a video recording from inside the city – that what remains under the control of Ukrainians in the city "does not exceed 2.5 square kilometers."

This comes as Russia announced the downing of a Ukrainian ballistic missile over the Moscow-annexed Crimea in March 2014, amid reports of a Ukrainian counterattack.

Moscow-appointed Crimean President Sergei Aksyonov wrote on Telegram that "air defenses shot down over Crimea a ballistic missile launched from the Ukrainian Grom-2 system. No damage, no casualties."


Prisoner exchange

On the other hand, the Ukrainian and Russian parties announced on Saturday the completion of a prisoner exchange process under which 45 Ukrainian soldiers and 3 Russians were released.

The Ministry of Reintegration of the Ukrainian Temporarily Occupied Territories said in a statement, "Today another prisoner exchange was conducted, and 45 soldiers who were captured by Russia, including 3 women, were released."

The prisoner exchange was carried out through the joint efforts of the presidential office, the General Directorate of Intelligence in the Ministry of Defence, the security service, the Ministry of the Interior and other institutions.

The Russian Ministry of Defense, in turn, announced the release of 3 soldiers who were prisoners of Ukraine, and confirmed the provision of the required medical and psychological support to them.


Strengthening fortifications

In the rest of the developments on the ground, the Russian Defense Ministry said Ukrainian forces had reinforced their military fortifications during the night hours along the frontlines.

The Russian Defense Ministry released photos from its drones that it said were monitoring Ukrainian reinforcements and showed Russian strikes on Ukrainian troop positions.

For its part, Russian military accounts on Telegram reported intensified shelling on the positions of Ukrainian forces in the Oglidhar axis in Donetsk province.

In a significant development on the southern front, Ukrainian officials reported the continued evacuation of towns and districts by Russian and loyalist forces in the Kherson and Zabarojia districts.

The mayor of Ukraine's Melitopol in Zaporizhia called on residents of what he described as temporarily occupied areas to stay away from Russian gatherings and vehicles.

Sergei Zbinsky, head of the press center of the Russian army's Western forces, said Russian forces had eliminated Ukrainian reconnaissance groups in the Kopyansk district and destroyed Ukrainian military vehicles in other regions.

Ukrainian authorities in Zaporizhye also said the Russians had launched more than 100 attacks in the past hours on about 16 regions and towns under the control of the Ukrainian army in the southern province.

Artillery shelling, drones and Grad rockets hit residential areas and public service networks, wounding a number of people, it said.


Bombing inside Russia

On the other hand, the governor of the Russian province of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, announced that a civilian was wounded in Ukrainian shelling targeting the city of Shibikino in the province.

Russia's Emergencies Ministry denied information about the evacuation of residents of the province.

The ministry said in a statement that false and false information is circulating on social media regarding the evacuation of residents, describing it as incorrect, and that its goal is to "spread panic" among the population.