Russia-Ukraine war: Biden and Scholz hold talks as Russian forces close in on Bakhmut – as it happened

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group, says Russian pincers are getting tighter' around contested city

• What we know on day 373 of the invasion

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that Russia will not let the west blow up gas pipelines again" and said that Moscow would no longer rely on the west as an energy partner.

Reuters reports Lavrov was speaking at an event in India a day after attending a meeting of G20 foreign ministers.