Russian reversal Latest defeats add to struggles to sell the war at home

It was not the ideal moment for a party. On Saturday evening, as Russian troops speedily retreated from numerous towns in the 1 region, and the Ukrainian army triumphantly raised its yellow and blue flag, spectacular fireworks crackled across Moscow.

- Shaun Walker Andrew Roth Moscow

Authorities said there had been more than 30,000 fireworks in total - set off at 23 coordinated displays across the Russian capital - to mark the city's 875th anniversary.

It was an incongruous sight at the end of a day when the news from the frontlines in Ukraine became more disastrous for Moscow by the hour, with even patriotic Ukrainians amazed at the speed with which Kyiv's forces were advancing in the north-east.

Numerous Russian politicians called on Moscow to postpone the annual celebrations, but the bad news seemed to catch the government flat-footed.

Reluctant even to admit that what is happening in Ukraine is war and not a "special military operation", the Kremlin decided that cancelling the festivities would have been too direct an admission that everything was going wrong.

As Ukraine took back towns where just a few weeks ago Russia was loudly proclaiming itself the new overlord "for ever", all Russians were given was a forlorn statement from the defence ministry that a "regrouping of forces" was under way.

Meanwhile, state television showed Moscow's mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, giving Vladimir Putin a tour of a new martial arts centre in the capital, chuckling obediently as the Russian president recounted a jokey anecdote. Later, the pair inaugurated a new observation wheel, the tallest in Europe.